USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. III > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
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M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02219 8722
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FAMILIES
OF THE
WYOMING
VALLEY Pennsyly
BIOGRAPHICAL, GENEALOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL.
SKETCHES OF THE BENCH AND BAR
OF LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
BY
GEO. B. KULP. 7
HISTORIOGRAPHER OF THE WYOMING HISTORICAL. AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
"There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. And some there be which have no memorial ; who are perished as though they had never been ; and are become as though they had never been born ; and their children after them."-Ecclesiasticus (Apocrypha) XLIV: 8-9.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
4
VOL. III.
WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA.
1890.
YOMING WILKES-3A88E F.
4
5
01
1555756
T
Copyright, 1890, by GEORGE B. KULP
E. B. YORDY, PRINTER, Wilkes-Barre. Pa.
TO MY ESTEEMED FATHER-IN-LAW JOHN STEWART, AND HIS WIFE ELIZABETH ANN WILLIAMS, A GRAND-DAUGHTER OF THAT HERO OF WYOMING, SERGEANT THOMAS WILLIAMS, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
-
€
· PREFACE.
The volumes of which this is the third and last, are records of the lives of the resident members of the Luzerne county bar, of its law judges and the associate or lay judges who have sat upon the Luzerne bench. In fact, they not only warrant, but in common justice demand, the title that has been given them -- "Families of the Wyoming Valley." In collating faithfully the incidents of moment in the careers of those who have practiced the profession of the law in Luzerne county, and of the judges of its courts, and in giving such attention as was possible and proper to the gene- alogies in each case, the author has, of necessity, had to deal with practically every family of note in the Wyoming valley, and has brought into review almost every prominent fact in their history and in the history of the valley itself. He has in this way been enabled to cover many matters not heretofore reduced to print, and to throw fresh light upon others many times and much dis- cussed. He believes and contends, in brief, that no study of the history of the valley can be esteemed to even approach complete- ness that does not include a careful reading of these books, an insistance that will be found to be fully justified by the merest reference to the exhaustive analytical index appended to this volume.
As to the gentlemen of the bar, reviewing the list from the date of the organization of the Luzerne county courts, May 27, 1787, shows that from then on to the date of the last admission herein recorded, there has been a total of four hundred and eighty-seven members, of whom one hundred and sixty-five are deceased, one hundred and sixty-three are non-residents and one hundred and fifty-nine are still with us, a rather remarkably equal division, by the way.
Of the ten president judges, eight are dead and two living. Of the six additional law judges, one only is dead and five are living. The only separate Orphans' Court judge we have had is still in service. Of the thirty-five associate or lay judges, but two sur- vive, thirty-three having been called to that Higher Court from
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PREFACE.
whose decrees there is no appeal. The larger proportion of deaths among these latter has no special significance, as might at first glance appear to be the case, since it was generally the fact that the men were already well advanced in years when chosen to the position. The last associate judge for the county was elected in 1871, the practice of having lay judges on the bench in counties constituting separate judicial districts having ceased with the passage of the first judicial apportionment under the new con- stitution.
The total of judges and lawyers dead and living, resident and non-resident, is five hundred and thirty-nine; and as giving some idea how busy death has been in the ranks of the number, it may be stated that fifty have departed this life since the work of compiling these volumes was begun in ISSI.
Since compiling our list of lawyers at the end of this volume two members of the bar have deceased-Caleb E. Wright, De- cember 2, 1889, and William J. Hughes, December 30, 1889. One attorney has been admitted-E. F. McHugh, November 23, 1889.
.
Nine Luzerne lawyers have abandoned the profession to take places in the pulpit. Of these, four became Protestant Episcopal ministers, one finally rising to the dignity of a bishopric, three preached in the Methodist Episcopal church, one in the Presby- terian and one in the Baptist. Popular prejudice will stand sur- prised to learn that a calling, the practices of which are so per- sistently ascribed to satanic influences, has contributed thus liber- ally to the grand army marshalled for the overthrow of its alleged patron.
To the armies of the country the Luzerne bar has given more than her quota. She had two soldiers in the revolution, two in the war of 1812, and ten in the Mexican war. To the forces whose energies won in the civil war of 1861-65, she contributed five generals, three colonels, one lieutenant colonel, three majors, twelve captains, ten lieutenants and twenty-three privates, while three others served in the navy.
In high civic offices she has had one United States senator, sixteen congressmen, two governors, two attorneys general, one minister in the diplomatic service, four judges of the Supreme
..
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PREFACE.
Court, two judges of United States Courts and eleven judges of Common Pleas Courts in other counties or states, in addition to ten law judges she has furnished our own bench.
While this volume also deals with a few of our lawyers whose careers at the bar have, in effect, only just begun, it takes on a special interest in the fact that its pages record :
First. An outline history of the Connecticut-Pennsylvania con- troversy as to the possession of the territory of which what is now Luzerne county, once formed a part, and of the final official organization of the county and the leading details thereof, as also a complete list of the officials during the years that it remained under the jurisdiction of Connecticut as the town of Westmore- land, in the county of Litchfield, and afterwards as Westmoreland county, of that state.
Second. Biographical sketches, so far as they were obtainable, of the deceased justices and judges of the courts who were not members of the Luzerne bar previous to their becoming justices or judges, or if members, were not treated in the first or second volumes in the order of their admission to practice; of deceased associate judges or judges unlearned in the law, and of deceased lawyers. In this category are many notable men, among them Burnside, Bidlack, Catlin, Collins, Conyngham, Gibson, Griffin, Jessup, Jones, Ketcham, Mallery, Wilmot, Woodward, Wright and others, whose names and deeds became widely known and whose characters and abilities exerted marked influence upon the affairs amid which they lived, and who are still remembered and revered.
Third. A carefully compiled series of pages, twelve in all, cov- ering additions to, and alterations and corrections of the several biographies in the three volumes, rendered necessary, either by events occuring subsequently to the original writings, or mistakes discovered or further information secured after they were put to press.
Fourth. A list of deceased president judges, additional law judges, associate judges, non-resident members of the bar, living judges and resident lawyers of Luzerne county, with the place and date of birth, date of admission or commission, the date of death of those deceased and the present location of those non- resident. This detailed information is given in all save a compar-
1
1
viii
PREFACE.
atively few instances, where the most careful search and diligent inquiry failed to secure it.
Fifth. An analytical index to the entire three volumes of all the namcs mentioned in each of the biographies and all the notable facts and incidents therein recorded. Much labor and pains were expended in preparing this latter compilation and its usefulness for reference purposes will be apparent at a glance.
The biographer feels that the volume thus constituted brings the accomplishment of his purpose to a state as near complete- ness as, with the matcrials at hand, was possible of attainment. The three books represent the fruits of many months' of hard work, including a correspondence that has reached to every cor- ner of the country and even into foreign countries; a tedious and sometimes exasperating scrutiny of musty records, and persistent application to and patient waiting upon many men who, while being the only attainable sources of necessary information, were, from pressure of their own personal matters, indifference to this one or other cause, vexatiously slow in coming to the responsive mood. To many of these, however, he is under great obligations, since but for their aid, no matter how tardily accorded, much interesting and important data now set down in these fourteen hundred pages could not have been secured. But wearisome as the task has sometimes been, and slender as must be the nioney reward for the time and labor bestowed, there has been no small satisfaction in the doing of it, and there is more in the reflection that it is now finished. The pride of authorship is something. Much as most of those who write books may affect to be above that sort of pride, it may safely be set down as the principal im- pelling force in a majority of cases, and unfortunately, in a very larger number, it is about the only recompense. There is reward, also, of no mean proportion in the knowledge that a duty when once undertaken has been performed with righteous earnestness and to the exhaustion of every source from which assistance could be secured. But in this instance, that upon which the writer chiefly congratulates himself is the fact that he knows he has saved and set down in fair order many facts and circumstances essential to a proper rounding out of the recorded history of a famous valley and a great county that, save for his efforts, might
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PREFACE.
forever have been lost, and that he has paid merited though often feebly worded tribute to many good men whose deserving might not otherwise have been properly made known to the generations that are to come. To some extent these books must have a value as part of the general history of the state and country. To the descendants and friends of those whose lives are sketched in them, they should, and in most cases probably will be, regarded as possessing a special value. If time shall even measurably justify these beliefs and expectations, the biographer will feel that he has been amply compensated.
In glancing over the pages of the three volumes we discover a few serious typographical and grammatical errors. We hope our readers will kindly overlook them.
For valuable assistance rendered in connection with our labors, we are indebted to Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden (who wrote the sketches under the head of Charles Miner Conyngham, William LaFayette Raeder and Paul Ross Weitzell), Sheldon Reynolds, Hon. Steuben Jenkins, C. Ben Johnson, W. H. Egle, M. D., Eugene T. Giering and Harry R. Deitrick.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., February, 1890.
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1
FAMILIES
OF THE
WYOMING VALLEY.
By an Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed September 25, 1786, the county of Luzerne was formed, and embraced the greater portion of the lands settled by the New England emigrants. Prior to that time it was a por- tion of Northumberland county, Pa. While under the jurisdic- tion of Connecticut it was a portion of the town of Westmoreland, attached to the county of Litchfield, Conn., subsequently the county of Westmoreland, Conn. As claimed by Connecticut, Westmoreland was sixty by one hundred and twenty miles square, embracing over seven thousand square miles. This ter- ritory included the principal parts of the counties of Bradford, Clearfield, Columbia, Elk, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Mckean, Mon- tour and Wyoming; smaller portions of Centre, Northumberland, Susquehanna and Union, and the whole of Cameron, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan and Tioga. It has a present population of one million souls. This is a goodly domain, and would have made a state larger in area and with a greater population than the present state of Connecticut. Three companies of troops were raised here for the continental establishment, and were part of the Twenty-fourth Regiment of the Connecticut line. This territory was claimed by both the states of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The governor of Connecticut issued his proclamation forbidding any settlement in Westmoreland except under authority from Connecticut. About the same time the governor of Pennsylvania issued his proclamation, prohibiting all persons from settling on the disputed lands except under the authority of the proprietaries. In 1774 Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denison were commissioned under Connecticut as justices of the peace of the county of Litch-
1040
COUNTY OF LUZERNE.
field, with authority to organize the town. In March, 1774, the whole people of Westmoreland, being legally warned, met and organized the town, and chose selectmen, a treasurer, constables, collector of taxes, surveyor of highways, fence viewers, listers, leather sealers, grand jurors, tything men, sealer of weights and measures and key keepers. Eight town meetings were held in the year 1774. The conflict in title gave rise to numerous con- tests, in many instances leading to fatal results, and is known in history as the Pennamite and Yankee war. Promptly on the appearance of peace, after the surrender of Cornwallis at York- town, Pennsylvania, by petition of her president and executive council, prayed congress to appoint commissioners "to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question agree- ably to the ninth article of the confederation." Commissioners were appointed and met at Trenton, N. J., November 19, 1782. On December 30, 1782, they pronounced the following judgment : "We are unanimously of opinion that the state of Connecticut has no right to the land in controversy. We are also unani- mously of opinion that the jurisdiction and preemption of all the territory lying within the charter boundary of Pennsylvania and now claimed by the state of Connecticut do of right belong to the state of Pennsylvania." The Trenton decree settled the legal right as to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. Clear, comprehen- sive and explicit, Pennsylvania was satisfied, and Connecticut submitted without breathing a sigh for the loss of so noble a domain, the right to which she had so strenuously maintained, or a murmur at a decision which seemed to the surrounding world so extraordinary. With the close of the year 1782, and the Trenton decree, the jurisdiction of Connecticut ceased, and the cheerful and salutary town meetings were no longer holden. While Luzerne county, or more properly Westmoreland, was under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, she sent the following per- sons as representatives to the Connecticut legislature, which met at Hartford and New Haven :
1774. Zebulon Butler, Timothy Smith, Christopher Avery, John Jenkins.
1775. Captain Zebulon Butler, Joseph Sluman, Major Ezekial Pierce.
1041
COUNTY OF LUZERNE.
1776. John Jenkins, Captain Solomon Strong. Colonel Zebu- lon Butler, Colonel Nathan Denison.
1777. John Jenkins, Isaac Tripp.
1778. Nathan Denison, Anderson Dana, Lieutenant Asahel Buck.
1779. Nathan Denison, Deacon John Hurlbut.
1780. John Hurlbut, Jonathan Fitch, Nathan Denison.
1781. John Hurlbut, Jonathan Fitch, Obadiah Gore, Captain John Franklin.
1782. Obadiah Gore, Jonathan Fitch.
From 1772 to 1775 the following persons were justices of the peace of Litchfield county : John Smith, Thomas Moffitt, Isaac Baldwin, John Jenkins, Zebulon Butler, Nathan Denison, Silas Parks, Bushnall Bostick, Joseph Sluman, Increase Moseley, John Sherman, Uriah Chapman. Joseph Sluman and John Sherman were judges of probate, as was Nathan Denison, of Westmore- land county.
In 1776 Jonathan Fitch was commissioned sheriff of Westmore- land county. The same year John Jenkins was appointed judge of the county court in and for the county of Westmoreland. On June 1, 1778, Governor. Jonathan Trumbull appointed the follow- ing named persons justices of the peace for the county of West- moreland : Nathan Denison, Christopher Avery, Obadiah Gore, Zera Beach, Zebulon Butler, William McKarrican, Asaph Whitt- lesey, Uriah Chapman, Anderson Dana, Ebenezer Marcy, Stephen Harding, John Franklin, 2d, Joseph Hambleton, and William Judd. Of the foregoing, Nathan Denison, Christopher Avery, Obadiah Gore and Zera Beach were appointed to assist the judges of Westmoreland. Other justices of the peace were appointed as follows : Caleb Bates, Zebulon Marcy, John Hurlbut, Nathaniel Landon, Abel Pierce, Hugh Fordsman, John Franklin, John Vin- cent, John Jenkins. In 1781 Nathan Denison was judge of West- moreland county. The above contains the names of the officers of Litchfield and Westmoreland counties. There were probably others, but we are unable to ascertain who they were. The only lawyers in Westmoreland were Anderson Dana and - Bullock. As they were both killed in the battle and massacre of Wyoming, Lieutenant John Jenkins was appointed by the court state's at-
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1042
COUNTY OF LUZERNE.
torney. The fourth section of the act incorporating Luzerne county provided : "That Courts of Common Pleas and General Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be holden in and for the said county of Luzerne shall be opened and held on the Tuesday suc- ceeding the Tuesday on which the court of Northumberland is held in each and every term hereafter; and that the Court of Quarter Sessions shall sit three days at each sessions and no longer, and shall be held at the house of Zebulon Butler, in the town of Wilkesburg, in the said county of Luzerne, until a court house shall be built, as hereafter directed, in the said county, which said courts shall then be holden and kept at the said court house on the days and times before mentioned." Section ninth of said act provided "That Zebulon Butler, Nathaniel Landen, Jonah Rogers, John Philips and Simon Spawlding are hereby ap- pointed trustees for the said county of Luzerne, and they, or any three of them, shall take assurances of and for a piece of land situated in some convenient place in or near Wilkesburg, within the said county of Luzerne, for the seat of a court house and of a county gaol or prison for the said county, in the name of the commonwealth, in trust and for the use and benefit of the said county of Luzerne, and thereupon to erect a court house and prison sufficient to accommodate the public service of the said county. On May 27, 1787, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter and James Nesbitt, Esqs., justices of the county Court of Common Pleas for Luzerne county, convened at the dwelling house of Zebulon Butler, in Wilkes-Barre (corner of River and Northampton streets, on the site of the residence of Hon. Stanley Woodward), in the said county, when and where the following proceedings were had :
Proclamation having been made by the sheriff of said county commanding all persons to keep silence, there were read :
I. The commissions issued by the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania to the said William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter and James Nesbit, and also to Timothy Pickering, Obadiah Gore, Nathan Kingsley and Matthias Hollenback, con- stituting them justices of the county Court of Common Pleas for the said county.
II. The dedimus potestatum to Timothy Pickering and Na-
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COUNTY OF LUZERNE.
than Denison, Esqs., issued by the supreme executive council, empowering them to administer the oaths to persons who were or should be commissioned in said county.
III. Then William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter and James Nesbit, Esqs., took the oaths of allegiance and of office, and justices of the peace and of the county Court of Common Pleas for said county (as required by the constitution of Pennsyl- vania), before Timothy Pickering, Esq., impowered as aforesaid to administer them.
IV. The Court of Common Pleas was then opened and Joseph Sprague appointed crier.
V. Then were read the other commissions granted to Timothy Pickering, Esq., by the supreme executive council, constituting him prothonotary of said Court of Common Pleas, clerk of the peace, clerk of the Orphans' Court, register for the probate of wills and granting letters of administration, and recorder of deeds for said county.
VI. The court, upon application to them made, admitted and appointed Ebenezer Bowman, Putnam Catlin, Rosewell Welles and William Nichols (the latter being a non-resident) to be attorneys of the same court, who were accordingly sworn.
VII. Then appeared Lord Butler, Esq., sheriff of the same county, and petitioned the court to take some order relative to the erection of a jail within the said county, whereupon it is or- dered that he immediately apply to the trustees for that purpose appointed, and request them to execute the powers granted them by the law of the state so far as respects the erection of a county jail.
The next regular term of court was held September 5, 1787, and was presided over by Justices Obadiah Gore, Matthias Hol- lenback, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, James Nes- bit and Nathan Kingsley. Courts were continued to be held by the justices until the changes wrought by the constitution of 1790 and subsequent legislation.
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1044
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
1
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Timothy Pickering, who was appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne county, Pa., October 12, 1786, was the great-great-grandson of John Pickering, who came from England and settled in Salem, Mass., in 1642. Timothy Pick- ering was born in Salem July 17, 1745. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1763, and soon afterward became a clerk to John Higginson, register of deeds for the county of Essex, Mass. In 1768 he was admitted to the bar. From 1770 to 1777 he served at different times in most of the municipal offices in Salem, and on the committees of correspondence, inspection and safety. In August, 1774, he, with other members of the committee of correspondence, was arrested at the instance of Governor Gage for calling a town meeting on public grievances, but in Septem- ber the magistrate who had issued the warrant for the arrest re-+ called it, being alarmed by the unpopularity of his act. In 1775 Mr. Pickering was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Essex, and sole judge of the prize court for the middle district, composed of Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex. In the autumn of 1776, the army under Gen- eral Washington being greatly reduced in numbers, a large re- enforcement of militia was called for and Mr. Pickering, who then held a commission as colonel, took the command of the regiment of seven hundred men, furnished from the county of Essex. On this tour of duty, which terminated in March, 1777, at Boundbrook, N. J., he had interviews with General Washing- ton, and in May he was invited by him to take the office of ad- jutant general, which he at first declined, but afterward accepted. In this capacity he was with Washington in the battles of Brandy -. wine and Germantown. In November congress elected him a member of the continental board of war, in which office he served until August 5, 1780, when congress by a unanimous vote elected him quartermaster-general as successor to General Greene. He continued in this station until July 25, 1785, when the office was abolished. He was present during the siege of Yorktown in
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1045
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
1781, and at the surrender of Cornwallis. On the return of peace he engaged in business in Philadelphia as a commission merchant. In 1786, having been invited to assist in composing the controversy between the state of Pennsylvania and certain emigrants from Connecticut, who had settled an extensive tract of land in the valley of Wyoming, and at the same time to or- ganize the new county of Luzerne, embracing a great part of the territory in dispute, he removed to Wilkes-Barre with the understanding that he was authorized to give assurances that the legislature would quiet in their possessions a certain class of the Connecticut settlers. An act was passed accordingly, and his efforts as a peacemaker promised a successful result, but the leg- islature proved inconstant, and by first suspending and then re- pealing the act, increased the acrimony and strength of the dis- contented settlers. Their leader, John Franklin, having been ar- rested for high treason, some of his adherents, with the hope of obtaining his release, retaliated on Colonel Pickering on June 26, 1788, by entering his house at night and carrying him into the woods, where they detained him for nineteen days. On October 12, 1786, he was appointed prothonotary, clerk of the Orphans' Court, Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Terminer, register of wills and recorder of deeds of Luzerne county, and on May 24, 1787. one of the commissioners to examine the Connecticut claims. In 1787 he was the delegate from Luzerne county to the Penn- sylvania convention for acting upon the proposed constitution of the United States, and was earnestly in favor of its adoption. In 1789 he was the delegate from this county to the convention for revising the constitution of Pennsylvania. Under appointments from President Washington he made satisfactory treaties with the Six nations collectively, and with some of them severally, in 1790, '91 and '94, and in 1793 he was joined with General Lin- . coln and Beverly Randolph in a commission to negotiate with the hostile Indians north-west of the Ohio, but the manœuvres of Simcoe, governor of Canada, prevented a meeting with those tribes. In 1792 he returned with his family to Philadelphia, having in August of the preceding year been appointed postmaster-general. On January 2, 1795, he was transferred to the office of secretary of war, and on December 12 to that of secretary of state. This
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