USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Lodge no. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkesbarr?, Pa. with a collection of masonic addresses > Part 11
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* " To the Overseers and Brethren of the Mark Lodge at Wilkes- barré : We the subscribers having been regularly initiated, passed, and raised to the sublime degree of Master Masons, now wish to be advanced to the honorary degree of Mark Master, if found worthy." "Jan'y 13th, 1824.
[Signed.]
" THOMAS HUTCHINS,"
" DANIEL COLLINGS."
·
CHAPTER V.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
" 'Tis this and 'tis that, They cannot tell what, Why so many great men of the Nation, Should aprons put on To make themselves one, With a Free and an Accepted Mason."
The twenty-two biographies included in this chapter are those of men who were, or are, not only prominent in the world as public men, or men of affairs, but particularly prominent and active as Free Masons. Had I not been de- sirous of keeping my work within reasonable limits, I might have added to these biographies those of Thomas Graham, Esq., Col. Benjamin Dorrance, Benjamin Reynolds, Esq., Col. George M. Hollenback, Joseph McCoy, Esq, Col. John L. Butler, Rev. James May, D. D., Samuel Maffet, Esq., Judge Charles D. Shoemaker, Hon. Henry M. Fuller, Hon.
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Benjamin A. Bidlack, Edward E. Le Clerc, Esq., Judge William C. Reynolds, G. Byron Nicholson, Esq., Judge Winthrop W. Ketcham, and many others-all now dead, but in life eminent citizens of the Wyoming Valley, and zealous members of LODGE 61. It was necessary for me, however, to draw the line somewhere, and I drew it so as to include in my list only those "particularly prominent and active," in their day, as members of our Fraternity.
In the preparation of these sketches I freely availed my- self of all sources of information open to me, and endeav- ored, so far as possible, to present something new and in- teresting. A good deal of the material used in the com- pilation of the biographies of Brothers Dana, Woodward, Conyngham, and Wright, I gathered from the pages of The Luzerne Legal Register, edited and published in Wilkesbarré by George B. Kulp, Esq.
Of sixteen of the twenty-two Brethren, whose biographies I now give, no biographies at all, or else very meagre ones, have heretofore been written or published.
HON. ANDREW BEAUMONT.
ANDREW BEAUMONT, the fifth and youngest child of Isaiah and Fear (Alden*) Beaumont, was born in 1791 at Leb- anon, Connecticut. Isaiah Beaumont was a descendant of William Beaumont, of Carlisle, England, who settled in Say- brook, Conn., about 1648, and who was a Freeman in 1652.
Isaiah had an elder brother, Samuel, who resided in Leb- anon. The latter was the father of William Beaumont, M. D., a surgeon in the United States Army ; born at Lebanon, Conn., in 1796, died at St. Louis, Mo., April 25th, 1853. He is principally noted for his discoveries regarding the laws of digestion. He was the first who actually obtained the gastric juice in the human subject, and demonstrated beyond a doubt its chemical properties and digestive powers. [See Appleton's Am. Cycl., Vol. II., p. 430.]
Isaiah Beaumont, who had been a soldier of the Revolu- tion, and had fought with Washington at Trenton and Princeton-being wounded in the battle at the latter place -removed in the latter part of 1791 from Connecticut to the neighborhood of Wyalusing creek, Susquehanna county, Penn'a.
Capt. Jonathan Alden, fourth son of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, the Plymouth pilgrims, had four children. Andrew, his eld- est child, married Lydia Stanford February 4th, 1714, and they had eight children. They all (parents and children) resided in Lebanon, Conn., and there Fear Alden, one of the children, married Isaiah Beaumont.
Prince Alden, third child of Andrew and Lydia, married Mary Fitch, of New London, Conn., who bore him ten children. Prince came to the Wyoming Valley, Penn'a, in 1772, and settled in New- port township. Subsequently he removed to Meshoppen, Wyoming county, Penn'a, where he died in 1804.
HON. ANDREW BEAUMONT.
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His son Andrew, the subject of this sketch, came to Wilkesbarré in the year 1808, being then seventeen years of age, and attended school at the Wilkesbarré Academy, which had been opened the year before in the old Court House building. In 1810 he became an assistant teacher in the Academy, being employed by the Trustees at the suggestion of Garrick Mallery, Esq., the Principal. In 1811, Mr. Mallery having been admitted to the Bar of Lu- zerne county, young Beaumont registered with him as a student-at-law, continuing, however, to perform the duties of an assistant teacher in the Academy until the Summer of 1812. At the termination of the usual period of study he was pronounced by a competent committee fully qualified for admission to the Bar, but Judge Chapman declined to admit him without further probation and study, upon the ground that his reading had not been pursued for what he (the Judge) deemed a necessary period in the office of his preceptor. The objection was a mere pretext, and its effect was to disgust Mr. Beaumont and drive him away from his chosen profession.
In January, 1814, he was appointed, under the Adminis- tration of President Madison, Collector of Revenue, Direct Taxes, and Internal Duties for the 20th Collection District of Pennsylvania, including Luzerne county. This office he held until 1816, when he was appointed by Governor Sny- der Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts of Luzerne county, to succeed David Scott, Esq., who had been elected a member of Congress. Mr. Beaumont held the offices until 1819.
In 1821 he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and again in 1822. While a member of the House he occupied the front rank as a legis- lator, and devoted his best faculties for the true welfare and advantage of the Commonwealth.
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In 1826 he was appointed Post Master of Wilkesbarré, to succeed Jacob Cist, who had died, and this office he held until 1832, when he was succeeded by Wm. S. Ross.
In 1832 Luzerne and Columbia counties formed one Congressional District, and that year the contest for the of- fice of Representative, was a triangular one. The candi- dates were Mr. Beaumont, James McClintock, Esq., a member of the Luzerne Bar, and Dr. Thomas W. Miner, a Wilkesbarré physician. The fight was a bitter one, and the result was not known for a week after election, and then it was ascertained that Mr. Beaumont had a majority of 88 votes, and was elected. His principal competitor, Mr. Mc- Clintock, was a brilliant advocate, and a man of high poetic genius. A short time previous to his candidacy for Con- gress, death robbed him of a beloved wife. To great grief for her loss was added the mortification and chagrin follow- ing political defeat ; his brilliant intellect became clouded, and insanity unbalanced his mind. He died some years later in an asylum.
Mr. Beaumont served his term in Congress in the midst of the " Bank War," in which he stood by President Jack- son in every gap, the President regarding him as one of his most intelligent and reliable friends in Congress. Mr. Beaumont was very much opposed to the Banking system then practiced in the United States, and in one of his speeches he charged that it had "brought more evil on the country than the three scourges of the human race-War, Pestilence and Famine ! "
In 1834 he was elected to Congress for a second term, which he served with equal honor as his first. In 1840 President Van Buren appointed him Treasurer of the Mint at Philadelphia, but the office was not accepted. In 1847 he received from President Polk the unsolicited and unex- pected appointment of Commissioner of Public Buildings, at Washington. Mr. Beaumont accepted the office and
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entered upon his duties, which he continued to discharge for some months, when the Senate refused to confirm his appointment. This rejection was brought about by Senator Thomas H. Benton, because Beaumont had refused to re- tain in a subordinate office one of Benton's friends.
In 1849 he was for the third time elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. During this term of service he urged the necessity of direct relations be- tween the State and the General Government, and through his exertions and speeches the first committee on " Federal Relations " was created-of which he was made chairman.
Mr. Beaumont was initiated into LODGE 61 February 5th, 1816, and from that time, until he ceased to be an active member of the Lodge, no member was more active and zealous than he in the work of the Craft. The records of the Lodge show that he was very faithful in his attendance at the meetings, and that his counsel and advice were freely sought and carefully followed. He served as Senior War- den of the Lodge in 1817, 1818 and 1819, and as Worship- ful Master during the years 1820, 1821 and 1826, and again in 1844 upon the revival of the Lodge. In 1831 he fitted up a Lodge-room in his residence, at the corner of Union and Franklin streets, Wilkesbarré, and there, during the next few years, the regular meetings of LODGE 61 were held; and after they were discontinued-on account of the " anti-Masonic Crusade"-the Brethren of Wilkesbarré met there from time to time and kept alive the fires of Masonry. In that room the Lodge was re-opened and re-constituted in January, 1844. [See pages 62 and 105, ante.]
February 9th, 1846, Brother Beaumont withdrew from active membership in the Lodge. On the 24th of June fol- lowing he delivered an address before the Lodge and the public in the Methodist church, Wilkesbarré, and on June 26th, 1849, he delivered an address before the Brethren and citizens of Honesdale, Penn'a, in the Court House of that
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town, upon the occasion of the dedication of the Lodge- room of Honesdale Lodge No. 218, A. Y. M. He also delivered an address before LODGE 61 on St. John the Bap- tist's Day, 1822 .*
As long as he lived he continued to take a great deal of interest in Free Masonry, and was ever anxious for the suc- cess and prosperity of LODGE 61.
Brother Beaumont, at about the time he was made a Ma- son, was of medium height, without being robust. He had a muscular and compact frame, hazel eyes, strongly marked features, and a massive head crowned with raven black hair.
His mind was of the largest capacity, earnestly seeking the truth and fearlessly declaring it. His name-for the last thirty years of his life-was regarded as synonymous with uprightness and integrity in public life. His political doctrine was that of the old Jeffersonian rule, practiced by conscientious and intelligent Democrats-never to seek or decline public favor. For years he was the leader of the Democratic party in. Northern Pennsylvania, and had a strong hold on the affections of the people of Luzerne county. As an indication of the regard in which he was held by his confreres in the Democratic party, I would men- tion the fact, that at a Democratic celebration in Luzerne county July 4th, 1845, at which Warren J. Woodward, Esq., was the orator, the following formal toast, or senti- ment, was proposed: "Andrew Beaumont, a man of rare abilities, unswerving integrity, and sterling worth. His life of devotion to the Democratic cause will yet be rewarded by an honest and intelligent people !"
But Mr. Beaumont was known not only as a politician and an office-holder. He was recognized by all who had any acquaintance with him, as a cultured, scholarly man, of
* See pages 51 and 108, ante ; and see Chapter VI. for copies of the three addresses referred to.
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great intelligence ; and by his fellow-townsmen, as one in- terested and active in everything tending to advance the prosperity and well-being of Wilkesbarré. He was one of the organizers of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkes- barré in 1817, and one of the first vestrymen chosen. He was one of the founders in 1819 of the Luzerne Bible So- ciety, and for a number of years was an officer of the So- ciety.
As a political and epistolary writer he had no equal in Pennsylvania. For forty years, when not engaged in manual labor, or in the discharge of his official duties, his pen knew no rest. His writings-terse, energetic and clear in style-would fill volumes. He wrote some poetry, and one of his poems-" Sons of Wyoming "-was very popular as a song when it was written, on the occasion of the departure from Wilkesbarré of the " Wyoming Artiller- ists" for the Mexican War .* We append a copy of the song to this sketch.
Brother Beaumont died at his residence, corner of Union and Franklin streets, Wilkesbarré, September 30th, 1853, and was buried with the honors of Masonry on October 2d -a large number of the members of LODGE 61, and visiting Brethren, being in attendance.
Mr. Beaumont married in 1813 Miss Julia A. Colt, of Wilkesbarré, second daughter of Arnold Colt, one of the Charter members of LODGE 61. She was a very bright and intelligent lady. She survived her husband, and died at Wilkesbarré October 13th, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont had ten children-six daughters and four sons.
JOHN COLT BEAUMONT, the eldest son, became a midship- man in the United States Navy in 1838. He served in the Navy with ability and credit for a long term of years, and at the time of his death, in 1882, was Rear Admiral. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 by dispensation, in May, 1859.
* See biographical sketch of Gen. E. L. Dana, post.
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WILLIAM HENRY BEAUMONT, the second son, was a mem- ber of the Bar of Luzerne county, and in 1853 editor and publisher of The True Democrat newspaper at Wilkesbarré. He was a member of LODGE 61, having been initiated June 12th, 1854. He died at Wilkesbarré in 1874.
EUGENE BEAUHARNAIS BEAUMONT, the youngest son, grad- uated from West Point May 6th, 1861, and on the 3d of August, 1861, was appointed Second Lieutenant of the 4th U. S. Cavalry. From that time to this he has been an honored and efficient officer, being now Brevet Lt. Col. and Major of the 4th Cavalry. He served as Adj. Gen. to Gen. J. H. Wilson during a portion of the War of the Rebellion, and was brevetted Colonel in the Volunteer Army, for meritorious services.
Andrew Beaumont's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married SAMUEL P. COLLINGS, Esq., second child of Daniel Collings [See page 109, ante]. Mr. Collings was born in Wilkes- barré in May, 1816, and from 1835 to 1852 was editor and proprietor of The Republican Farmer newspaper of Wilkes- barré. For purity of language, boldness of style, and co- gency of reasoning, few men could excel him.
In the Fall of 1854 he was appointed United States Con- sul General at Tangier, Morocco, for which place he im- mediately sailed with his wife, two of his children, and his wife's younger sister, Miss Eleanor Beaumont. He died at Tangier June 15th, 1855, of fever and congestion of the lungs, after an illness of three days. The State Depart- ment at Washington 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 was made a Mason in LODGE 61 November 18th, 1854. He left to survive him his wife, four
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daughters, and one son-John B. Collings, now a member of the Bar of Lackawanna county, Penn'a.
"THE SONS OF WYOMING." BY ANDREW BEAUMONT.
"AIR-' The Star Spangled Banner.'"
"Oh, say, did you hear the loud clarion of war,
Send its summoning blast o'er our hills and our valleys ;
And Mars, with his helmet, his buckler, and spear,
Call our youth round 'the Star Spangled Banner' to rally ? Mid these stirring alarms, See our sons rush to arms-
While the passion for glory each gallant heart warms ;
And the sons of Wyoming shall hence be our boast,
Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast.
" Behold where the Fane of Religion ascends, Those youth clad in arms round the altar of freedom,
And pledge in the presence of kindred and friends,
Their blood and their lives, if their country should need them.
Then the pæan rose high, And the shout rent the sky,
While the patriot tear stole from each generous eye.
And the sons of Wyoming shall e'er be our boast,
Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast.
"And ne'er shall the page of our history declare That the youth of Wyoming are wanting in duty ;
Beloved as companions-undaunted in war, And the smiles of the fair are their 'booty and beauty.' For the same ardor fires, The same spirit inspires,
That guided in battle their patriot sires.
And the sons of Wyoming shall long be our boast, Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast."
CAPT. SAMUEL BOWMAN.
SAMUEL BOWMAN was the son of Capt. Thaddeus Bow- man, of Lexington, Middlesex county, Colony of Mas- sachusetts Bay. Thaddeus was the great-grandson of Nathaniel Bowman, " gent.," who emigrated from England in 1630, and became one of the earliest settlers of Water- town, Mass .; subsequently removing to Lexington, where he died in 1681. Thaddeus was married twice, and had thirteen children. Two of his sons graduated from Harvard College, and these two, with five of their brothers, were soldiers in the Revolutionary Army. One of the seven- Solomon-was killed at the battle of Monmouth Junction, but the others lived to see the war ended and the Republic securely established.
Samuel Bowman was the eighth child of Thaddeus, and was born in Lexington, December 2d, 1753. He was one of the minute-men on Lexington common, on the morning of the ever-memorable 17th of April, 1775, when they were fired upon by the British troops-the opening act in the great drama of the War for Independence. Zealous for the cause of his country, and ready at every hazard to defend her violated rights, he enlisted in the Continental Army soon after its organization, in January, 1776. He soon became an ensign in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Col. John Greaton, and before long was commissioned a lieutenant in the Ist Massachusetts Infantry, commanded by Col. Joseph Vose. This position he held until the dis- banding of the army, on the conclusion of peace in 1783.
In September, 1780, Lieutenant Bowman was with his regiment in camp at Tappan, on the Hudson. On the 23d of September Maj. John André, the British spy, was cap-
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tured by the " cow-boys" Van Wart, Williams and Pauld- ing-men who, without being considered as belonging to either side in the war, made it a business to pillage from both. September 28th André was brought into camp at Tappan in charge of Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge,* and con- fined in Mabie's stone house, within the limits of the camp, and on the 29th he was brought before a court of general officers, tried in the old Dutch church, and sentenced to death. General Washington directed the execution to take place Sunday, October Ist, at 5 P. M., but he subsequently postponed it to October 2d, on which day, at 12 o'clock noon, Major André was hanged on the high hill in the rear of the place of his confinement.
* BENJAMIN TALLMADGE was born at Brookhaven, Long Island, February 25th, 1754. He graduated from Yale College in 1773, hav- ing been a classmate of Nathan Hale, " the martyr." In June, 1776, he joined the American Army as Lieutenant, but within six months he received a captain's commission in Sheldon's Regiment of Light Dra- goons. This regiment was Washington's favorite corps, and continued to act under his immediate direction till the treaty of peace was signed, -constituting at once his messengers, his body-guard and his agents for the accomplishment of any enterprise, however desperate.
In April, 1777, Captain Tallmadge was promoted to the majority of his regiment. He continued in active service till the close of the war (when he was retired with the rank of colonel), and was engaged in several daring enterprises, for which he received the public thanks of Congress and of General Washington.
Concerning Major André he wrote : " I became so deeply attached to Major André that I can remember no instance when my affections were so fully absorbed in any man. When I saw him swinging under the gibbet, it seemed for a time as if I could not support it. All the spectators seemed to be overwhelmed by the affecting spectacle, and the eyes of many were suffused in tears."
Col. Tallmadge was the first Treasurer, and subsequently President, of the Connecticut Branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1801, being a resident of Litchfield, Conn., he was elected to Congress, and for sixteen years thereafter he held a seat in that body. He died March 13th, 1835.
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Lieutenant Bowman was one of the special guards of Major André during the last twenty-four hours of his life, and supported him to the place of execution.
In the year 1816 the three men, who captured Major André, applied to Congress for an increase of the pension settled on them by the Government. These men had each received the thanks of Congress, a silver medal, and a yearly pension of $200 during life, for simply performing what was the duty of every honest American to perform,-and then, after a lapse of thirty-six years, they wanted more money. When their application was under consideration in Congress, Colonel Tallmadge-then a Representative from Litchfield, Conn .- stated, that having been the officer to whom the care of André was entrusted, he had heard André declare that those men robbed him, and upon his offer to reward them for taking him to the British lines, he believed they declined only from the impossibility of his giving them suf- ficient security, etc., and that it was not patriotism, but the hope of gain, which induced them to deliver him to the Americans. In support of these declarations, Colonel Tall- madge offered the letters and affidavits of ex-officers of the Revolution, who were conversant with the circumstances of the transaction. Among these documents was an interest- ing statement of facts contributed by Captain Bowman at the request of Colonel Tallmadge. That statement, herewith given, has never before been printed in any historical work, I believe.
* André was to have been executed on the Ist of October, but he was reprieved until the 2d. His guard consisted of a Captain, five subalterns-of which myself was one-and forty rank and file. We relieved Captain Allen, of Rhode Island, by whom we were all introduced to Major André as his guards. He requested Captain Hughes [of the Maryland line, from Annapolis,] and myself to remain with him, to which we consented, and never left the room but twice during the twenty-four hours I was with him,-and then not more than five or six minutes at a time.
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" Major André related to us that he was passing down a hill, at the foot of which, under a tree playing cards, were the three men who took him. They were close by the road-side, and he had approached very near them before either party discovered the other. Upon see- ing him they instantly rose and seized their rifles. They approached him and demanded who he was. He immediately answered that he was a British officer, supposing from their being so near the British lines that they belonged to that party. They then seized him, robbed him of the few guineas which he had with him, and the two watches which he then wore -- one of gold, the other of silver. He offered to reward them if they would take him to New York. They hesitated, and in his (André's) opinion the reason why they did not do so was the impossibility on his part to secure to them the performance of the promise. * * *
" On the morning of the fatal day he early put on his morning-gown and appeared very sociable, conversed on different subjects; never mentioning his own situation. * * About 8 o'clock two servants came in with his breakfast, of which he ate heartily. About one hour after he was told by the Adjutant General that he was to be executed at 12 o'clock. André ordered his shaving-box and razors, sat down, shaved, and put on his uniform ; packed his clothes in his trunks, and ordered his servant to leave one trunk at one place, and one at an- other. He then gave him the keys and ordered him to return to New York as soon as he could get a passport. He then took his hat, put it on the table and said, 'Gentlemen, I am now ready to obey your call,' with as much composure as if he had dressed for a party of pleasure. I said to him I was sorry that we had to separate so soon, and he said it would be the sooner over. He then requested Capt. Hughes and myself to walk in the guard with him. On entering the guard he took each of our arms, and when about half way to the place of execution we came within sight of the gallows. It was well known that he had solicited to be shot, and it was not until he saw the gal- lows that he knew the manner of his death. I had never before seen him disturbed, but there was now evidently excitement, asking us earnestly whether we knew the mode of death. Learning that he was to be hung he said, ' I have borne everything with fortitude, but this is too degrading ! As respects myself it is a matter of no consequence, but I have a mother and sister who will be very much mortified by the intelligence.' * * * André frequently spoke of the kindness of the American officers, and particularly of the attention of Major Tallmadge; and on the way to the place of execution sent for that of- ficer to come near him."
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