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 17
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About thirty minutes before his death, which occurred within two hours from the time of the accident, one of the gentlemen present at his bedside said, " Judge, you are a perfect hero ; I never saw so much nerve in a man of your years." As if in reply to this remark he clearly but calmly said, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." These were his last words, as he almost immediately fell asleep, and soon his gentle spirit took its flight to its long home.
Very soon after the accident the Free Masons of Mag- nolia, learning that Judge Conyngham was a member of the Craft, hastened to offer their services in his behalf. After his death they prepared his body for burial, telegraphed to New Orleans for a casket, watched that night with the body, and the next day came to the hotel with their wives and strewed flowers upon the remains of their dead Brother. Everything was done that was possible to show respect to the dead, and sympathy for the mourning son.
February 25th, 1871, a special meeting of LODGE 61 was held at their Lodge-room in Wilkesbarré, and the death of Brother Conyngham was formally announced. The Sec- retary of the Lodge was directed to communicate the sad intelligence to all the Masonic Lodges in the county, and a
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committee was appointed to meet the remains at Harrisburg, Penn'a. A committee was also appointed to prepare reso- lutions of condolence, to be presented to the family of Brother Conyngham, and also to communicate with Sin- cerity Lodge No. 214, F. and A. M., Magnolia, Miss.
The following letter was subsequently sent to that Lodge : "LODGE No. 61, A. Y. M., March 3d, 1871.
" BRETHREN : At a special meeting of LODGE No. 61, A. Y. M., Wilkesbarré, Penn'a, we were instructed to render to you some recog- nition of our obligations to you, for your deeds of Brotherly love and assistance on the occasion of the death at Magnolia of our Brother, John N. Conyngham, of this Lodge.
"Throughout our Commonwealth Brother Conyngham was honored as an upright and learned Judge, revered as a Christian without osten- tation, respected as a citizen without reproach, beloved as the head of a family reared to usefulness and integrity. And he was further bound to us by the solemn vows, and beautiful observances, of our Order.
" Years ago, before the birth of many of us, he had been a Worshipful Master of our Lodge, nor had the weighty business of his public life abated any of his enthusiasm for the social charms of Masonry.
" It was no small mitigation of the grievous blow sustained by his family, the community, and ourselves, that our Brethren at Magnolia surrounded him with all the ministrations of relief possible, and con- fided his remains and his stricken son to the sympathy and assistance of the Brethren wherever found. The chords you touched thrilled our hearts, and met a quick response of pride and joy in the holy principles of our Organization.
" Nor are you mistaken in the object of your kindness. Eight hun- dred Brethren joined us in the last sad rites to the memory of him whose death first stirred the ready impulses of charity and good will in your hearts.
"Brethren, we thank you. We send our benison-' God bless you one and all !' You have done us and ours a kindness which we can never forget.
" Magnolia Lodge No. 214 and LODGE No. 61 have a new and de- lightful tie of Brotherhood and humanity.
" By order of LODGE No. 61.
[Signed.]
" HENRY M. HOYT,
" EDMUND L. DANA,
" G. BYRON NICHOLSON,
Committee."
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The remains of Judge Conyngham reached Wilkesbarré on the morning of March Ist. The Borough authorities, the members of the Bar, LODGE No. 61, and the police force escorted the remains from the railroad station to the late residence of the deceased.
The funeral took place the next afternoon. At noon all business was suspended in town and stores closed, while early preparations were made by almost the whole popula- tion to testify respect for the deceased. Upon many buildings were displayed mourning emblems. The various Masonic Lodges assembled at Masonic Hall, the members of the Bar met at the Court House, and other organizations on Franklin street. At three o'clock the general procession was formed on Franklin street under the direction of Gen. Henry M. Hoyt. The coffin containing the remains of the honored dead-covered with floral emblems-was then escorted to St. Stephen's Church, and borne to the front of the altar by the following Free Masons: Bros. John McNeish, Thomas Cassidy, Henry C. Smith, Daniel G. Driesbach, J. Pryor Williamson, Willlam J. Harvey, Samuel H. Sturdevant, and Thaddeus S. Hillard. Brief addresses were delivered by the Rev. Charles DeKay Cooper, Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Philadelphia ; the Rev. George D. Miles, Rector of St. John's Church, Taunton, Mass .; and the Rev. R. H. Williamson, Rector of St. Stephen's. After these services the funeral procession moved to the Hollenback Cemetery, where the interment took place.
Judge Conyngham was a handsome, refined, gentlemanly man, of soft voice and suasive manners, and had not men- tally, morally, or physically, an angle about him. In his presence you thought of Shakespeare's lines :
" The elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, ' This is a man !'"
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His word was a synonym of honor as well as of sense.
As a lawyer and a Judge he had the entire confidence of the members of the Bar. They were aware that his de- cisions were not the result of an inconsiderate conclusion. They knew that the rule of law adopted was the conclusion deduced from authority, or from close consideration. "A great lawyer," said Charles O'Conor once, " is not the one who knows the most of law, but who understands what the point involved is."
Judge Conyngham's industry was wonderful. “ During an adjournment of Court he would frequently go without his meal, spending the whole time in his library, that he might be ready at the assembling of the Court to meet the questions that the case presented. Labor seemed to be a pleasure to him.
" He was proud of his reputation as a Judge. He disliked to be reversed, and his great desire was that he should be sustained by the Court of review, and it was very seldom that he was reversed. Therefore, no labor was too much for him to perform. When he was in the midst of a trial, he was lost to everything else; his mind was on that and that alone. Hurrying, with his head down, absorbed in his own reflections, in passing from his office to the Court, he would scarcely notice any one. Never was man more de- voted to his occupation, and never did man have a more earnest desire to administer the law correctly and in all its purity. Thus, with his research and his well-balanced mind, and his scrupulous desire to administer justice, he could not be otherwise than a most excellent Judge. And such he was."
In early life he was warmly interested in State and National politics, and though invariably decided and inflexible in his attitude, was respected and admired even by his opponents. In a speech which he made in 1862, at the Triennial Con- vention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United
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States, he said that since he had had the honor of being raised to the Bench he had refrained from any active part in politics ; he had not attended any political meetings, had delivered no political addresses, and had heard none.
During the War of the Rebellion he was an earnest advocate for the Union, headed many subscription lists, addressed public meetings, and encouraged enlistments.
Judge Conyngham's piety was robust and manly. There was no equivocation about it, no timidity in its maintenance, no restiveness under it as if it were a burden. He was never ashamed of his religion. It was not a garment made for home wear, to be put off when he went on the circuit and on the Bench. It was not a robe to be worn on Sun- days and in churches, and to be laid aside on journeys and in court houses.
As a Free Mason he was intelligent, zealous, and faithful. Around him there was a cluster of Masonic virtues very beautiful to the mind's eye. In him were found due caution against intemperance and excess ; a lively courtesy toward every Brother, however lowly in station; a deathless fidelity; a proper cultivation of the social virtues ; and a warm desire to extend the Royal Art, a knowledge to manage it with skill, and a desire to impress its dignity and importance upon the world. While he was not often with us in his later years, he was always of us, ever manifesting and living up to those virtues which are the crown and glory of Masonry, and ever taking pride in the Fraternity to which he belonged.
At the time of his death Judge Conyngham was Senior Warden of St. Stephen's Church, Wilkesbarré, having held the office of Vestryman for fifty years; President of the Wilkesbarré Tract Society, of the Luzerne County Bible Society, of the Hollenback Cemetery Association, and of the American Church Missionary Society, New York City ; Vice President of the American Sunday School Union, and of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Philadelphia.
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Judge Conyngham married, December 17th, 1823, Ruth Ann Butler, seventh child of Gen. Lord Butler,* and she bore him seven children, as follows :
DAVID CONYNGHAM, born January 7th, 1826; died in April, 1834.
JOHN BUTLER CONYNGHAM, born in Wilkesbarré Sep- tember 29th, 1827.
In the Fall of 1842, when not quite fifteen years of age, he entered Yale College. As a student he stood well, and took several honors. In July, 1844, he, with fourteen of his class-mates founded the JKE Fraternity. There were then two so-called Junior societies at Yale-TY and AJd. The new Fraternity had all the pleasure which came from self-confidence, and at once instituted itself as the rival of Y and the patronizing critic of A Jo-though it was doubt- less some time before such status was recognized by those societies.
The founders of JKE had at first no idea of propagating chapters. The body, however, became known and proved popular, and applications were received for charters for " branches " or chapters.
Those fifteen members of the class of 1846 builded better than they knew, when they founded the brotherhood to which good fellowship has ever been a passport not less requisite than learning. To-day the AKE Fraternity has chapters in twenty-nine of the leading colleges of the United States, and stands at the head of the Greek letter college societies. The names of men eminent in all the professions, and in all the walks of life, are to be found on the rolls of the Fraternity.
Graduating from college in the Summer of 1846, Mr. Conyngham returned to Wilkesbarré and immediately began the study of law in the office of A. T. McClintock, Esq.
* Vide pages 225, &c., post.
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He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county August 6th, 1849. In 1852 he established himself at St. Louis, Mo., as a lawyer, and remained there, with great credit to him- self, until 1856, when he returned to Wilkesbarré.
Upon the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in April, 1861, he enlisted in Capt. William Brisbane's company, of Wilkesbarré, for the three months' service. This company became "C" company of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, and Mr. Conyngham was elected and served as its Second Lieutenant.
When the 52d Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, for three years' service, was organized in the Fall of 1861, Lieu- tenant Conyngham was made Major of the regiment. Jan- uary 9th, 1864, he was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel, and soon after his regiment was ordered to South Carolina. During the attack on Fort Johnson, before Charleston, July 4th, 1864, he was taken prisoner and confined, first in Charleston, and then in Columbus, Georgia. After his release he was, June 3d, 1865, promoted to the Colonelcy of his regiment.
At the close of the war Colonel Conyngham was honor- ably mustered out of the service, and returned to Wilkesbarré. March 7th, 1867, he was appointed Captain in the 38th U. S, Infantry, and in November, 1869, he was transferred to the 24th U. S. Infantry. In 1871 he was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, for gallant services in the field.
" He was a brave and good officer-cool in battle, always at the post of duty, and in the treatment of his men, gentle and kind. He was one of those who could always be relied on, and was exceedingly popular with both officers and sol- diers."
Lieutenant Colonel Conyngham was initiated in LODGE 61 January 25th, 1858, and remained an active member until his death. He received the Mark Masters' degree May 30th, 1859, in Shekinah R. A. Chapter No. 182, and
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the Most Excellent and Royal Arch degrees by dispensation, October 18th, 1859. He served as Secretary of the Chapter from December, 1859, to December, 1860, and in December, 1866, was elected and installed King of the Chapter.
Brother Conyngham died at Wilkesbarré May 27th, 1871, and was buried with the honors of Masonry.
WILLIAM LORD CONYNGHAM, born at Wilkesbarre Novem- ber 21st, 1829. He resides in Wilkesbarré, is a man of large wealth, and one of the most prominent business men in Eastern Pennsylvania.
THOMAS DYER CONYNGHAM, born December 11th, 1831. Graduated from Yale College in the class of 1850. He is now engaged in business in New York City.
MARY CONYNGHAM. She is the wife of Charles Parrish, Esq., of Wilkesbarré, who for twenty years directed the coal interests of the Wyoming Valley. To him the Valley owes much for the development of her coal interests, and the establishment of important industries.
ANNA MARIA CONYNGHAM, wife of the Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
CHARLES MINER CONYNGHAM, born at Wilkesbarré July 6th, 1840.
He graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., in 1859, receiving in 1862 the degree of A. M.
He studied law with G. Byron Nicholson, Esq., of Wilkes- barré, and was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county August 18th, 1862. Eight days afterwards he was commissioned Captain of Company "A" of the 143d Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion. This
regiment was commanded by Col. Edmund L. Dana.
In September, 1863, Captain Conyngham was promoted to the Majority of his regiment, to rank from June 2d, 1863.
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In the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, in May, 1864, he was so severely wounded that, July 26th, 1864, he was honorably discharged from the service.
He served as Inspector General (with the rank of Colonel) of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, during the adminis- tration of Governor Hoyt, 1879-1883.
For the past eighteen years he has been actively engaged in mercantile and mining pursuits in Luzerne county. He is married, has three daughters, and resides in Wilkesbarré, where he is looked upon as one of the leading citizens of the town.
Colonel Conyngham was entered, passed, and raised, by dispensation, in LODGE 61 September 8th, 1862, and was admitted to membership February 6th, 1865. He was Junior Warden of the Lodge in 1868.
He received the Mark Master's and Most Excellent Master's degrees in Shekinah Royal Arch Chapter No. 182, July 20th, 1869, and August 17th, 1869, was exalted to the Royal Arch degree.
ZEBULON BUTLER was born in 1731 at Lyme, New London county, Conn.
He commenced his military career as an Ensign in the American regiment commanded by Colonel Fitch, in the King's service, but soon rose to the rank of Captain. He participated in the hardships of the campaign on the frontiers of Canada in 1758, was with his company at Crown Point in 1761, and the next year was at the storm- ing and taking of Havana.
Having left the army in 1763 he, in 1769, settled in the Wyoming Valley, Penn'a. July 22d, 1773, he was chosen to be "Judge of the Probate " of the Wyoming settlers.
Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War he entered the army and was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of one of the Connecticut regiments.
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He was at the battle and massacre of Wyoming, where he com- manded the right wing of the Wyoming forces.
In September, 1778, he was commissioned Colonel of the 2d Con- necticut Regiment, which he commanded until the end of the war, at which time the regiment was considered one of the best in the army.
He was the personal friend of General Washington, by whom he was highly esteemed, and with whom he carried on a correspondence for several years after the close of the war.
" The life of Col. Zebulon Butler is the history of Wyoming. Almost every letter of our annals bears the impress of his name, and is a record of his deeds"-wrote Charles Miner, "the historian of Wyo- ming," in 1839.
Colonel Butler died at Wilkesbarré, July 28th, 1795, and his remains were interred in the old grave-yard. Among other marks of respect paid to his memory a monody of a dozen verses was written, one of which was inscribed on his tombstone :
" Distinguished by his usefulness At home and when abroad, In court, in camp, and in recess, Protected still by God."
Colonel Butler was thrice married. First, December 23d, 1760, to Miss Anna Lord, of Lyme. The children by this marriage were Lord Butler, and a daughter, who married Rosewell Welles, Esq .*
Second, to a daughter of the Rev. Jacob Johnson, the first gospel minister of Wyoming. The only child by this marriage was Capt. Zebulon Butler, who died March 23d, 1817, leaving a wife and several children.
Third, to Miss Phebe Haight, who bore one son and two daughters. One of the daughters married George Griffin, Esq., a lawyer in Wilkes- barré and subsequently in New York City; and the other married John W. Robinson, Esq., for many years a prominent citizen of Wilkes- barré. The son by this last marriage was Steuben Butler, Esq. For thirty-five years he kept a book store in Wilkesbarré, and from 1818 to 1828 was sole proprietor and publisher of the Wyoming Herald, which had been established by him. He died at Wilkesbarré August 12th, 1881, aged 92 years.
Gen. Lord Butler, the eldest child of Colonel Butler, born December IIth, 1761, at Lyme, Conn., was for many years one of the most active public men in Luzerne county.
* See page 36, ante.
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In October, 1778, being then not quite 17 years of age, he was ap- pointed Deputy Quarter Master General at the Wyoming Post. After the war he held various offices in the State militia. In the Fall of 1798 he was Captain of the " Luzerne Company of Light Horse." In April, 1799, he was appointed by the Governor Brigadier General, vice Simon Spalding, resigned.
He was the first Sheriff of Luzerne county, and from November, 1789, to December, 1790, a member of the State Executive Council. By Governor Mifflin's appointment he held the offices of Register, Re- corder, and Prothonotary of Luzerne county.
In 1801 he was chosen a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and later held the offices of County Commissioner, and Treasurer. From May, 1811, to May, 1814, he was Burgess of the Borough of Wilkesbarré.
" In all these various offices he sustained the highest character for ability and faithfulness. No public servant ever deserved better of the public." He died at Wilkesbarre in 1824.
General Butler married a daughter of Abel Pierce, Esq., one of the earliest Wyoming settlers. Their children were as follows :
Louisa Butler, born February, 1787; died December 17th, 1787.
Pierce Butler, born January 27th, 1789; married Temperance, daugh- ter of Arnold Colt, Esq., February 3d, 1818. He was by occupation a farmer, and resided in Kingston, Luzerne county. He was initiated into LODGE 61 April 11th, 1814, and was Senior Warden in 1821 and 1845. "He was possessed of an uncommon share of native good sense, a sound, discriminating judgment, a happy, benevolent dis- position. Few men ever had fewer enemies, and none ever had warmer and more sincere friends. The virtues of humanity were so happily blended in him as to command the esteem and affection of all who knew him. He was a faithful and devoted Mason." He died at Kingston March 30th, 1848, and was buried with the honors of Masonry.
Houghton Butler, born November 8th, 1791 ; died October 3d, 1807.
Sylvina Butler, born March 5th, 1794 ; married Hon. Garrick Mal- lery June, 1811 ; died March 28th, 1824.
John L. Butler, born February 9th, 1796. "From earliest manhood he was identified with all the interests of society and business in the Wyoming region. To develop the riches of the coal, and open chan- nels for its transportation to market, were the objects of his untiring efforts, and he lived to see those efforts crowned with a greater degree of success than often falls to the lot of men engaged in similar under-
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takings." He was Captain of the "Wyoming Guards," of Wilkes- barré, in 1819, Major of the " Wyoming Volunteer Battalion" in 1823, and Lieutenant Colonel in 1829. He was initiated into LODGE 61 March 24th, 1828, and continued a member until his death. He was Treasurer of the Lodge from 1829 to 1832. He died at Wilkes- barré August 4th, 1858. Colonel Butler married Cornelia Richards, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Welles) Richards, of Farmington, Conn., and their eldest daughter is the wife of the Hon. Stanley Woodward, of Wilkesbarré. Mrs. Butler is still living, a resident of Wilkesbarré.
Chester Butler, born March 21st, 1798. He was a man of marked and decided character. He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county August 8th, 1820, and for twenty years was one of the leading members of the Bar. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Luzerne county in 1832, 1838, 1839, and 1843, and in 1846 and again in 1848 was elected a member of Congress from the Luzerne district. He was one of the most conspicuous anti- Masons in Luzerne county, and in 1832 was on the anti-Masonic Electoral ticket of Pennsylvania. He married the widow of Jacob Cist, Esq., of Wilkesbarré, and had one son-George H. Butler-who died in 1862. The latter was a member of LODGE 61.
Ruth Ann Butler, born January 11th, 1801 ; married the Hon. John N. Conyngham. She died July 3d, 1879.
Zebulon Butler, born September 27th, 1803. He was a Minister of the Gospel, and resided for many years in Port Gibson, Miss., where he died December 23d, 1860.
Lord Butler, born October 18th, 1805. He was for many years a prominent citizen of Wilkesbarré-active in various business enter- prises. He married Abi, daughter of Joseph Slocum, Esq., and granddaughter of Judge Jesse Fell, of Wilkesbarré. Lord Butler died at Wilkesbarré November 27th, 1861, his wife and four children sur- viving him.
Phebe Butler, born January 16th, 1811. She married Dr. Donald- son of Iowa, and died in July, 1849.
Edm "L. Danal
GEN. EDMUND L. DANA.
" Various members of the Dana family, all through the history of our country, have borne a conspicuous and highly honorable part, as well in political positions they have occu- pied, as in the paths of science, law and literature." The ancestor of the family in this country came from old Eng- land about 1640 and settled in New England.
Anderson Dana, grandson of Jacob Dana, of Cambridge, Mass .- the first of the name to settle in the Wyoming Val- ley-came into Pennsylvania from Ashford, Windham county, Conn., about the year 1771, and settled in Pittston. He remained there but a short time, and then removed to Wilkesbarré, where he had purchased a farm. He was a lawyer of handsome attainments, and in 1778 represented Wyoming in the Connecticut Assembly. He had just returned home, near the close of June, when news was received of the intended invasion, by the Indians and Tories, to desolate the Valley. He immediately mounted his horse and rode through the settlement, arousing and urging the people to the conflict. He and his son-in-law, Stephen Whiton, went out with the little force, and both fell in the midst of the hottest of the strife.
Anderson Dana left a number of children, one of whom was named Anderson, Jr. He married a daughter of Lieut. Asa Stevens, of Wyoming (who fell in the massacre), and reared on the old homestead farm at Wilkesbarré a large family. One of his sons-Asa Stevens Dana-married Ann, daughter of the Hon. Joseph Pruner, of Hanover township, Luzerne county, Penn'a, a descendant of one of the early German settlers of the State. They were the parents of several children, of whom EDMUND LOVELL DANA, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest.
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He was born at Wilkesbarré January 29th, 1817. In the Spring of 1819 his father removed to Eaton, opposite Tunk- hannock, Wyoming county, Penn'a, where Edmund grew up, working on the farm in Summer and attending a country school in Winter. At the age of fifteen he began preparing for college at the Wilkesbarré Academy, and in October, 1835, entered the Sophomore class in Yale College. Grad- uating in 1838 he was engaged as a civil engineer on the North Branch Canal until the 7th of April, 1839, when he began the study of law in the office of the Hon. Luther Kidder,* Wilkesbarré.
He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county April 6th, 1841, and immediately entered the office of George W. Woodward, Esq., who had just been appointed President Judge of the 4th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and assumed charge of Mr. Woodward's extensive business, which he successfully managed. During the next four years he was actively engaged in the practice of his profes- sion in the counties of Luzerne and Wyoming.
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