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 30
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" He abominated the Gallican invention, as he called it, of panta- loons, and stuck to knee-breeches all his life; and, under the same
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prejudice, he adhered to hair powder and a cue, because the French revolutionists had first rejected them from their armies. * * He smoked cigars incessantly. He smoked at the fireplace in court. He smoked in the Court Library; in his office ; in the street ; in bed ; * and he would have smoked in church if he had ever gone there."
David Paul Brown, in his " Forum" (see page 273, ante), says :
" Mr. Lewis' career was a manifestation of the aristocracy of mind. His powers of reasoning were of the highest order. His manner of speech was rough but most powerful. He spoke the English language with extraordinary purity. His wit was keen but rough, and in sarcasm he had no equal."
In 1820 William Primrose of Philadelphia, who had been a friend and cotemporary of Judge Lewis, wrote a very in- teresting sketch of the latter's life. The original manuscript of Mr. Primrose was given into the possession of the Lewis family, and has remained there to the present time. In April, 1896, the sketch was published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Philadelphia, accompanied by a sil- houette of Judge Lewis.
Judge Lewis died at his home near the Falls of Schuyl- kill August 15th, 1819, and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard, Philadelphia.
Josiah Lewis, eldest child of William and Rosanna (Lort) Lewis, was born in Philadelphia in 1772. March 28th, 1799, he was married by Bishop White to Margaret Delany (born 1780; died October 31st, 1852), daughter of Col. Sharp Delany,* of Philadelphia.
* SHARP DELANY was born in Ireland in 1736, the son of Daniel and Rachel (Sharp) Delany, of Bally Fin, Queen's county. He re- ceived a thorough school education, and then learned the drug busi- ness. At the age of twenty-eight he immigrated to America, and in 1764 or '65 established himself as a druggist in Philadelphia, at the north-west corner of South Second street and Lodge alley, where he carried on an extensive and profitable business in that line-for some years in partnership with his brother, Dr. William Delany. December
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In the Summer of 1804 Josiah Lewis came with his wife and infant son from Philadelphia to Wilkesbarré, where he resided until 1809, when he removed to Kingston, Luzerne county. There he remained until 1818, when he returned to Wilkesbarré. In 1806 he was Constable of Wilkesbarré borough and township; in 1821 he was Deputy Surveyor of Luzerne county ; and from May, 1830, to May, 1833, he was Burgess of Wilkesbarré borough. In 1834 he moved from Wilkesbarré to a farm which he owned in what is now
30th, 1788, the brothers dissolved partnership, and Doctor Delany continued the business.
He was a deputy from Philadelphia to the "Provincial Conference" which met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, January 23d and June 18th, 1775, and June 18th to 24th, 1776. On the last named date the members of the Conference adopted "A Declaration on the subject of the Independence of this [Pennsylvania] Colony of the Crown of Great Britain," and unanimously declared their " willingness to con- cur in a vote of Congress declaring the United Colonies free and independent States." Thomas McKean, Benj. Rush, Timothy Mat- lack, and Sharp Delany were some of the Philadelphia deputies who signed this declaration, which was laid before the Continental Congress and read June 25th. Three days later the first draft of the Declara- tion of Independence was reported to Congress by the committee having the matter in charge; and four days thereafter (July 2d) the resolution was passed which formally declared the independence of the Colonies.
In July, 1776, Sharp Delany was captain of a company of Philadel- phia "Associators" or militia; early in 1777 he was promoted to the majority of one of the city battalions, and about July Ist, 1777, he be- came Colonel of the "Philadelphia 2d Battalion of Foot in the service of the United States." November 20th, 1776, he was elected by Con- gress one of the seven managers "to carry into execution" a certain lottery, which had been previously authorized by Congress for the purpose of "raising a sum of money on loan, bearing an annual inter- est of 4%, to be applied for carrying on the [then] present most just and necessary war."
In 1780 he subscribed {1000 to the bank established to supply the Continental Army with provisions.
Colonel Delany was a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in
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Old Forge, Lackawanna county, Penn'a. In the Winter of 1838 he sustained a severe fall on the ice, and from that time until his death, which occurred at his home in Lacka- wanna county May 2d, 1851, he was a cripple-almost helpless.
Josiah Lewis was a good classical scholar, having received his education at the old Philadelphia Academy, and was a surveyor by profession. " He was an extraordinary man, and would have made his mark in any position in life. Cor- dial and social in his intercourse with his friends and neigh-
1780 and 1781, and in March, 1784, was appointed State Collector of Customs at Philadelphia. May 8th, 1789, he was appointed by Pres- ident Washington Collector of the Philadelphia port, and held the office for a number of years-certainly till 1797. He transacted the business of Collector in the front portion of his residence on the south- east corner of Second and Walnut streets. In 1789 he was also State Collector of Imposts.
He was a member of the Hibernian Society (see page 204, ante), of the American Philosophical Society, and of the Society of the Cin- cinnati. He possessed the friendship and regard of Washington, who was often a guest at his house. In one of the cabinets of the Wyo- ming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkesbarré, is preserved a small lock of General Washington's hair which was once possessed by Colonel Delany, and was presented by one of his descendants to the Society.
Colonel Delany died at his home in Philadelphia May 13th, 1799, and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard.
Colonel Delany's eldest daughter, Sarah, was married October 17th, 1787, in Christ Church, Philadelphia, to Maj. James Moore, son of James Moore of Chester county. She was one of the belles of Phila- delphia society. Major Moore served through the Revolutionary War with credit, entering the service as captain under Col. Anthony Wayne. During the troubles in the Wyoming Valley in 1784, between the Con- necticut settlers and the Pennamites, Major Moore commanded some of the soldiers sent by the State authorities against the settlers ; and Charles Miner, in his "History of Wyoming" (page 349), describes him as having been the "active oppressor of the settlers, and confi- dential coadjutor of [Justice] Patterson."
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bers, his company was sought and appreciated, and he was always a welcome guest at the social or convivial board."
SHARP DELANY LEWIS, the third child of Josiah and Margaret (Delany) Lewis, was born in Philadelphia, January 2d, 1804. He received his education in a private school at Kingston, and in the Wilkesbarré Academy which he at- tended in 1819-'20. In 1822, at the age of seventeen, he entered the printing-office of Samuel Maffet, * Wilkesbarré, to learn the printer's trade. Two years later Mr. Lewis be- came joint publisher of The Susquehanna Democrat with Mr. Maffet, whom in June, 1825, he bought out, and was sole proprietor and publisher of the paper until 1830, when he was joined by his brother-in-law, Chester A. Colt. In January, 1830, Mr. Lewis was appointed by the Commis- sioners of Luzerne county Treasurer of the county. Early in the same year he published "The History of Wyoming,"
*SAMUEL MAFFET, born in Linden, Lycoming county, Penn'a, July 7th, 1789, was the son of John Maffet, a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, who came to America about 1774.
Samuel learned the art of printing with John Binns of Northumber- land and Philadelphia, and ended his apprenticeship on his twentieth birthday. Soon thereafter he removed to Wilkesbarré, and in June, 1810, before he was twenty-one years of age, founded The Susque- hanna Democrat. The subscription price of the paper was two dol- lars a year, and the printing office was located at first on South Main street, near the Public Square, and later at the west corner of the Square. The Democrat was edited and published by Mr. Maffet alone until July, 1824, when Mr. Lewis became his partner ; to whom, one year later, he sold his interest in the business and retired because of ill health.
From 1815 to 1821 Mr. Maffet was Recorder of Deeds and Register of Wills, and from 1821 to 1824 Prothonotary, Clerk of the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Terminer, and Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Luzerne county. From 1814 to 1825 he was an officer in the Pennsylvania militia, first as Ensign and then Captain of the 8th company in the 2d Regiment.
He was made a Free Mason in LODGE 61 March 7th, 1823, and
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written in 1818 by Isaac A. Chapman, Esq., a resident of the valley. The Appendix-published with the history, and a valuable and interesting portion of the book-was written by Mr. Lewis a short time prior to its publication. "For a country publication [of sixty years ago], this book exhibits a fair degree of mechanical skill, in respect both to printing and binding."
Mr. Lewis sold his interest in the Democrat to the Hon. Luther Kidder, in the later part of 1831, and shortly after removed to the village of Kingston, where he established The Wyoming Republican and Farmers' Herald, which he edited with ability and published until December, 1836. The establishment was then sold to Miner S. Blackman, t and
was admitted to the Mark Masters' Lodge the 5th of the following August.
Samuel Maffet was married May 4th, 1815, to Caroline Ann Ross of Wilkesbarré, daughter of Gen. William and Eliza (Sterling) Ross. He died at Wilkesbarré August 15th, 1825, and was survived by his wife and one son. Some years later his widow married Elisha Ather- ton, whom she also survived-dying August 17th, 1885, in the eighty- ninth year of her age.
William Ross Maffet, the son above mentioned, was born in Wilkes- barré March 29th, 1817. He became a civil engineer, supervised the extension of the North Branch Canal, and then was a coal operator in the Wyoming Valley for many years. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 January 10th, 1859, and died at Wilkesbarre June 14th, 1890.
¡MINER SEARLE BLACKMAN was the son of Elisha Blackman, 2d, (referred to on page 104, ante), and Mary Searle his wife. Elisha Blackman, 2d, was born in Luzerne county in 1791, and was the youngest son of Ichabod and Elizabeth (Franklin) Blackman. Ich- abod was born in Lebanon, Conn., in 1762, and came to Wyoming in 1773 with his brothers Eleazer and Elisha, and their father Elisha (born in Lebanon in 1717; died in Wilkesbarré in 1804-as noted on page 103, ante).
Ichabod was with his father in the skirmish with the Indians at Exeter, July Ist, 1778, and on the 4th he fled with his father's family and others from Wyoming to Connecticut. About 1784 he returned hither ; was married in 1786, and about 1794 removed to Sheshequin,
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A. S. Tilden, who published the paper for a while under its old name, and then changed it to The Republican.
April 18th, 1835, Governor Wolf appointed Mr. Lewis Justice of the Peace for the second district of Luzerne county-comprising the townships of Kingston, Plymouth, and Dallas-to hold office during good behavior. This tenure of office ended with the adoption of the new State Constitution in 1838. During the remainder of his life he
Bradford county, Penn'a. In April, 1798, he was accidently drowned in the Susquehanna river.
Miner S. Blackman was born in Wilkesbarré August 14th, 1815. In 1837 he dissolved partnership with Mr. Tilden, and in connection with Dr. Thomas W. Miner of Wilkesbarré continued the publication of the Republican until 1839. He then began the study of law, and was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county January 2d, 1843. The same year he married Ann Elizabeth Drake (born August 15th, 1821; died January 9th, 1848), daughter of Benjamin and Nancy S. (Ely) Drake, of Wilkesbarré.
From 1845 to 1847 he was Deputy Attorney General of Pennsyl- vania for Luzerne county ; from 1844 to 1848 one of the trustees of Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, and in 1848 a member of the Wilkes- barré Borough Council. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 Octo- ber 13th, 1845, and in 1847 was Treasurer of the Lodge.
May 26th, 1848 (less than five months after the death of his wife), while suffering from a severe attack of small-pox at the house of his friend Doctor Miner, corner of Main and Union streets, Wilkesbarré, and when temporarily insane, he cut his throat and was found dead in his bed.
Brother Blackman was a talented and brilliant young man, and was exceedingly popular with his friends and associates. His melan- choly and untimely ending (he was not yet thirty-three years of age) caused much grief. The following resolution was adopted at a meet- ing of the Bar of Luzerne county on the occasion of his death :-
" Resolved, That in the early and melancholy death of our brother, Miner S. Blackman, Esq., we have to deplore the death of an honor- able and upright lawyer, a warm and devoted friend, and a worthy and public spirited citizen. At the Bar he was courteous and conciliating, and his brethren were his friends."
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was generally known, and familiarly spoken of, as "Squire" Lewis.
In 1836-'37 he was secretary of the Wilkesbarré Bridge Company ; and from about 1836 to 1842 he was engaged in mercantile business in Kingston-part of the time in partnership with Thomas C. Reese.
"Squire" Lewis was the originator of the act known as "the Seven Years' Audit Act," passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in July, 1842, which provides "that the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne county shall, on the appli- cation of one hundred taxable inhabitants of the county, appoint one or more suitable persons to re-audit, settle, and thoroughly investigate the accounts of the public officers of the said Court ; Provided, that such investigation shall not extend to public officers that have been out of office for a period exceeding seven years." This act was of such importance as to revolutionize the politics of Luzerne county. After its passage Mr. Lewis did much, through the columns of The Wilkesbarre Advocate, to point out to the auditors what were proper matters for investigation; and to his labors in this direction he doubtless owed his subsequent election as Treasurer of Luzerne county. More than once during the last fifty years have the taxpayers of this county been benefited by having the provisions of this act carried out and enforced.
In November, 1843, The Wilkesbarré Advocate passed into the hands of Mr. Lewis, and he again took up his res- idence in Wilkesbarré. This paper-which had been es- tablished in 1832 as The Anti-Masonic Advocate *- had been published by Amos Sisty from the year 1838 to July, 1843. Mr. Lewis edited and published the paper during the next ten years, with the exception of one year when C. E. Lathrop, Esq., of Carbondale, was his partner.
*See page 98, ante.
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Having been elected Treasurer of Luzerne county as the candidate of the Democratic-Whig party, Mr. Lewis per- formed the duties of the office with entire satisfaction to the people for one term, from January, 1848, to January, 1850. The Farmer and Journal of January 5th, 1848, contained the following editorial note :- "On Monday last the outgoing County Treasurer (Colonel Johnson) handed over to his suc- cessor in office, Sharp D. Lewis, Esq., editor of the Advocate, the sum of $2448, of county funds, with which to begin his administration of the office. There being but few county orders in circulation the Whig printer-Treasurer is likely to have a light job and an easy berth. How the good man must have been astonished at that mass of money! Only Pizarro, when the glittering treasures of Peru offered them- selves to his astonished vision, could conceive the bewilder- ment of the poor printer."
In 1850 Mr. Lewis was one of the incorporators of The Wilkesbarré Water Company ; and he was the first treasurer of the second Luzerne County Agricultural Society, organ- ized in January, 1851. In April, 1853, he disposed of the Advocate to Messrs. Wm. P. and J. W. Miner, who changed the name of the paper to The Record of the Times. From 1855 to 1866, Mr. Lewis, in partnership with Alexander and Andrew McLean, owned the Eagle Foundry and Ma- chine Shop on North Main street, next the old canal, in Wilkesbarré, where they carried on a prosperous business. In the Spring of 1859 Mr. Lewis was elected Justice of the Peace for the North, or First, Ward of the Borough of Wilkesbarré. This office he held for three successive terms -until April, 1874-transacting during that time an enor- mous amount of business.
In September, 1830, the First, or Franklin Street, Meth- odist Episcopal Church was organized in Wilkesbarré, and Mr. Lewis was appointed one of the stewards and a trustee. Thenceforward, for nearly fifty years, he was an earnest and
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active member of the Church, and during nearly all of the time filled some important office in it. For many years pre- ceding his death he held the appointment, and performed the duties, of local preacher.
For the last twenty-six years of his life he was Recording Secretary of the Luzerne Bible Society. (See page 48, ante.)
"Squire" Lewis was a man of great honesty of purpose, of strict morals, and of unusual conscientiousness. He had a clear, strong and candid mind, and was a lover of truth for its own sake. He was a shrewd and able editor, and an excellent business man - careful, painstaking, and very methodical in his habits. He had some personal peculiari- ties, but he was respected even for these, for they were not the outgrowth of faults, but only the excesses of his virtues and strict integrity of character.
During the "Dark Age" of Free Masonry he was an anti- Mason; but as the storm against Masonry abated he was one of those who "admired the Institution, knocked for ad- mission, and was received." He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 April 9th, 1855. In 1857 he was Senior Warden of the Lodge; in 1858 Worshipful Master; from 1859 to 1862 District Deputy Grand Master for Luzerne county ; in 1867 a member of the Committee on Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Penn'a; and during several years a Representative from LODGE 61 to the Grand Lodge. He was a very zealous and active Mason, and particularly effi- cient and accurate in the "work" of the Craft. One of his contemporaries in the Lodge has estimated that during his connection with the Fraternity-a period of almost twenty- four years-Brother Lewis conferred over five hundred de- grees upon candidates in his own and other Lodges. He was made an honorary member of LODGE 61 December 13th, 1869. February 14th, 1856, he received the Mark Master, M. E. M., and R. A. degrees in Shekinah R. A.
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Chapter No. 182, as a sojourner, and was admitted to mem- bership in the Chapter March 18th, 1856.
Mr. Lewis was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was married at Wilkesbarré May 7th, 1825, by the Rev. George Lane, was Mary Butler Colt (born at Wilkesbarré May 7th, 1805), daughter of Arnold Colt, Esq. (See page 201, ante.) She died June 30th, 1850, aged 45 years, and September 28th, 1851, Mr. Lewis married Mrs. Deborah Fell (Slocum) Chahoon (daughter of Joseph Slocum, Esq., granddaughter of Judge Jesse Fell, and widow of Anning O. Chahoon,Esq .- all of Wilkesbarré). She died at Wilkes- barré January 9th, 1878, in her 72d year.
In 1874 Mr. Lewis received a sun-stroke, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. He died from disease of the liver at Wilkesbarre, March 25th, 1879. His funeral took place March 27th, and he was buried in the Hollenback Cemetery with the ceremonies and honors of Masonry- Oscar J. Harvey, Worshipful Master of LODGE 61, conduct- ing the services, and Bro. W. W. Loomis acting as Chap- lain. The pall bearers were Past Masters James P. Dennis, Edmund L. Dana, and William L. Stewart, and Brothers Wesley Johnson, Jonathan E. Bulkeley, M. D., and Daniel Metzger, all of LODGE 61.
Sharp D. Lewis had nine children, four sons and five daughters, all by his first wife.
ARNOLD COLT LEWIS, his eldest child, was born in Wilkes- barré March 2d, 1826. He served through the Mexican War as Second Lieutenant of the "Wyoming Artillerists." He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county August 5th, 1850. A few years later he removed to Catasauqua, Penn'a, where he and his brother, Sharp D., Jr., published The Cat- asauqua Herald. On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion he joined the Union army, and was commissioned Major of the 46th Regiment Penn'a Vols. He was killed September 22d, 1861, while in the discharge of his duty.
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CHARLES LEWIS, second child, was born in 1827, and died in 1847.
SHARP D. LEWIS, JR., fifth child, was born August 30th, 1834, and died December 30th, 1869. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 February 16th, 1857, and continued a member of the Lodge until his death.
JOSIAH L. LEWIS, seventh child, was born May 28th, 1843, and died October 18th, 1870. He was a druggist. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 January 9th, 1865.
The following paragraphs reprinted from The Wilkesbarré Record, are from a tribute to the memory of Brother Lewis written by Brother Past Master George Urquhart, M. D.,* and read at the "installation banquet" of LODGE 61, St. John's Day, 1889.
"As an officer of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., for twenty years or more, and at a time which almost antedates the present membership, I ask your indulgence for recalling a name which in the exemplifica- tion of good Pennsylvania work in this Masonic jurisdiction, and for the assistance rendered therein, is justly entitled to a full measure of Masonic gratitude.
There are but few persons present at this annual social Masonic banquet who can in memory go back a generation to the time when our revered Past Master, Sharp Delany Lewis, was a leader among us in Masonic work. Past Master Lewis is well remembered in this community as an energetic, thorough-going Christian, and most high- ly esteemed among the fathers of the Methodist Church. * * We remember him for his enthusiasm in Masonic matters, for his influence in Masonic circles, and for his devotion to the interests of this Lodge- for it may truly be said that for more than twenty years he rarely missed a meeting, and during which time he took upon himself the performance of the most important duties involved in the work of LODGE 61. The most difficult among these important official acts
* GEORGE URQUHART was born in Lambertville, N. J., in 1823, the son of Capt. John Urquhart, who about 1840 removed to this town and was a successful business man here until his death in 1868. Hav- ing been graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia,
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were the efforts to purify and reclaim the work from the usages that had gradually and insensibly crept in from New York Lodges; and also in establishing the true Pennsylvania work, as ordered and ex- emplified by the R. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Brethren, you can hardly appreciate the feeling that existed then between the R. W. Grand Lodges of New York and Pennsylvania ; but an idea may be obtained of it by remembering that in consequence of the claims and pretensions of the two Grand Lodges in the state of New York, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania repudiated both jurisdictions, and declined to affiliate with the New York Brethren, and furthermore, forbade New York Masons from officially participa- ting in ceremonial work at the dedication of the grand Masonic Tem- ple in Philadelphia.
About the time of the early incumbency of Past Master Lewis, the R. W. G. Lodge of Penn'a was exceedingly solicitous and critical in refer- ence to Pennsylvania Masonic work; and in consequence thereof LODGE 61 was honored with a grand visitation from the R. W. Grand Lodge with a view of exemplifying and teaching us the true work. Brother Barger was an authority and an accomplished worker in those days, who, with the R. W. Grand Master, and others visiting us, required LODGE 61 to exemplify her work in their grand and august presence ; and as one of the actors on that trying occasion, I well remember our mortification at witnessing the hearty amusement of the Grand Lodge officers in beholding our manner of procedure in conferring some portions of the third degree. There was, however, the best of feeling ; it was evident that we were not familiar with the true Pennsylvania
in 1850, George Urquhart began the practice of medicine and surgery in Wilkesbarré and the surrounding country, which he continued with great success and credit for more than thirty years.
He was fond of literary work, and did much of it for the local news- papers during the last years of his life. He was one of the organizers of the Luzerne County Medical Society, and was for many years its Secretary. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 February 27th, 1855. He was Secretary of the Lodge from 1856 to 1858, and from 1866 to 1876; Junior Warden in 1859, Senior Warden in 1860, and Worship- ful Master in 1861.
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