A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 20

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II > Part 20

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Rev. Dr. Craft, in his "History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania." says (page 865): "Capt. Stephen Fuller came to Sheshequin with Captain Spalding in 1788. * * * Stephen Fuller lived on Lot No. 16, Wilkes-Barre. He became quite a speculator in lands under the Connecticut title. Besides receiv- ing a large grant as compensation for his losses from the Pennamites, he was the owner of another town- ship and part owner of several others. In one of his deeds he is described as a mason by trade." March 1, 1795, The Susquehanna Company granted to Captain Fuller a township named "Fullersville." It com- prehended parts of the present townships of Burlington, Franklin and Barclay in Bradford County, Penn- sylvania, and Towanda Creek flowed through it. (See the map facing page 468, Volume I.)

Some of the children of Capt. Stephen and Mary ( Abbott) Fuller were as follows : (i) Abigail, born in 1752; married (1st) in 1772 to James Bidlack, Jr., and (2d) to Col. John Franklin. (See subsequent chapters for sketches of these two men.) She died at Athens, Pennsylvania, January 81, 1884. (ii) Stephen, born about 1758 ; married about 1775 to Sarah Bidlack (born 1756), sister of James Bidlack, Jr., mentioned above. Stephen Fuller, Jr., who, as early as 1776, at least, was an inhabitant of Kingston Township, was killed at the battle of Wyoming, and was survived by his wife and one daughter-Polly (born about 1776). who, prior to June, 1799, was married to Judge Ebenezer Griffin, Jr., of Hampton, Windham County. Con- necticut. Mrs. Sarah (Bidlack) Fuller was married (2d) February 7, 1782, to Asa Abbott, born May 2, 1756. (See sketch of the Abbott family.) She died January 81, 1887, having survived her husband. (iii) John, came to Wyoming with his father in 1770 or '71. In 1780 he was a private in Capt. John Franklin's company in the Continental, or United States, service at the Wyoming Post. His name is in the assese- ment list of Tioga Township, Luzerne, now Bradford. County, Pennsylvania, for 1786. (iv) Thomas, killed at the battle of Wyoming. (v) A daughter, who was married at Wilkes Barre, January 2. 1782, to Gideon Baldwin. (vi) Reuben, born about 1768. He was living with his father at Wilkes-Barre in 1781, and later. His name is in the assessment list of Tioga Township-previously mentioned-for 1786.

* TIMOTHY SMITH was born at Voluntown, Windham County, Connecticut, April 28, 1740, the third child of John and Phebe ( Peirce) Smith, mentioned in the note on page 410, Vol. I. He was one of the Timothy South original Connecticut settlers at Mill Creek, in Wyoming Val- ley, in 1762 and '63 (see page 404, Vol. I), and was probably there at the time of the massacre in October, 1768. In Febru- ary, 1769, he was one of the "First Forty" settlers, and in that year was twice taken a prisoner to Easton and committed to the jail there by the Pennamites. He was one of those who Facsimile of his signature writ- ten in 1774. escaped from the jail in September, 1769, and for whose re- capture a reward was issued. (See pages 478. 476, 478 and 514, Vol. 1.) After his hasty departure from Easton, between sun- set and sunrise, Timothy Smith lost no time in making his

way to Voluntown, where he remained until March, 1770, when he returned to Wyoming with the rein- forcements led in by Major Durkee. (See page 646.)

When the lands of Kingston, or the "Forty," Township were allotted to the proprietors thereof in the Spring of 1772, Timothy Smith drew "House Lot No. 2, Lots numbered 7 and 18, Second Division, and Lot

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setlers on ye forfited Rites and to take Bonds in behalf of ye company, &c. Voted, That Asa Lyon is intitled to a setling right in ye township of Plymouth provided he puts on an able Bodyed man, &c. Voted, That Philip Buck be admitted in as a settler and to hold a settling right for Mr. William Stewart."

The following (see the original now in the collections of the Wyo- ming Historical and Geological Society) is a copy of one of the bonds given by certain settlers in 1772 in pursuance of the resolutions adopted by the proprietor-settlers at the town-meetings held December 11, 1771, and January 13, 1772.

"KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that I PEREGREEN GARDNER* of Wilks- bury in Susquehannah Purchase am holden and stand firmly Bound unto ZEBULON BUT- LER, STEPHEN FULLER & TIMOTHY SMITH and to ye rest of ye Comtee of setlers on ye Susquehannah Purchase in ye full & Just sum of Thirty pounds Lawfull mony of New England to be paid unto them ye sd Zebulon Butler, Stephen Fuller, Timothy Smith & to their Heirs, Execors or adminors or assigns to ye which payment well & truly to be made & Done I bind myself my Heirs, Execuors & adminors Firmly by these presents. Signed with my Hand & sealed with my seal this 11th Day of February A. D. 1772 & in ye 12th year of ye Reign of our Sovereign Lord George ye 3rd King &c :

"THE CONDITION of ye above written obligation is such that whereas ye Company of Setlers on ye Susquehannah Lands at wyoming in ye Susquehannah purchase so called, did at their meeting legally warned & held at ye fort in wilksbury on sd Land on ye 7th Day of December 1771 vote that all ye New Setlers that Had Not Been at any former Cost to obtain setling Rights in sd Purchase untill that time, shall pay to Zebulon Butler, Stephen Fuller, & Timothy Smith, Comtee appointed by sd Company to take sd Bonds for ye use and Benefitt of sd setlers, ye several sum or sums for each settling Right as was then voted by sd Company (viz. ) for one setling Right in ye township of wilksbury ye sum of Fifty Dollars &c : & whereas ye above Bounden PEREGREEN GARDNER did on ye 31st Day of January 1772 make application to sd Company at their meeting on sd 31st Day of January 1772 for a setling Right in ye township of Wilksbury on ye conditions above sd which was then granted & voted by sd Company at ye time above sd &c.

No. 21, Third Division." Shortly after the drawing of these lots Forty Fort (see Chapter XIII) was erected by the settlers in Kingston a few rods north of Timothy Smith's "House Lot"-which lot contained a little more than two acres, and lay not far from the bank of the river, within the present limits of the borough of Forty Fort. In the Spring of 1772 Mr. Smith took up his residence in Kingston, and dwelt there until his death-which occurred in the Spring of 1776, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He was a man of considerable influence among the Wyoming settlers, and was held in high regard by them. His name appears frequently in the following pages.

Timothy Smith was married in Connecticut in 1758, in the nineteenth year of his life. Owing to the loes and destruction of family and other records, it is now impossible to state where and to whom he was married. His wife died in 1700, or '61, leaving one child-Benjamin Smith, born in 1759, presumably at Voluntown.

Benjamin-Smith, abovenamed, was reared in the home of his paternal grandparents in Connecticut. August 1, 1779, at the age of twenty years, he enlisted as a private in the 2d Regiment, Connecticut Line, in the Continental service. This regiment was raised in 1777, and was recruited at large throughout the State. In 1779 new levies were made to fill up the depleted ranka, and men were enlisted for short terms. During the time that Benjamin Smith was a member of this regiment Zebulon Butler was its Colonel, but be was absent on detached service, in command of the Wyoming Post. The regiment served on the east side of the Hudson River, in General Heath's wing of the army, during the operations of 1779, and spent the Winter of 179-'80 at Morristown, New Jersey, where Benjamin Smith was discharged from the service January 15, 1780, his term of enlistment having expired. The Ist Regiment, Connecticut Line, originally commanded by Col. Jedidiah Huntington, and after March, 1778, by Col. Josiah Starr, was raised in and after January, 1777, mainly in the counties of New London and Windham. In 1780 the ranks of this regi- ment were filled up with new men, enlisted for short terms. Benjamin Smith, who had returned from the army in New Jersey to his home in Voluntown, enlisted July 15, 1780, in the 1st Regiment, and served with it along the Hudson during the Summer. The regiment went into Winter quarters early in the Autumn at Camp "Connecticut Village" (see page 486), and there Benjamin Smith was discharged Decem- ber 15. 1780-his term of service having expired.

Benjamin Smith continued to make his home at Voluntown, and, owing to the unsettled state of the country, did not venture to visit Wyoming Valley for some years after the death of his father. He finally removed here in the latter part of 1782 and took up his residence in Kingston, on one of the lots belong- ing to the estate of his deceased father. In 1787 he was married to Welthea Ann (born Voluntown, Con- necticut, November 80, 1750), fourth daughter and child of Amos and Lucretia ( Miner) York. September 12, 1787, Benjamin Smith was appointed by the Orphans' Court of Luzerne County administrator of his father's estate. Mrs. Welthea Ann ( York) Smith and her third child-a lad of some eleven years-died September 27, 1804, of an epidemic which prevailed in Wyoming Valley in the Autumn of that year. Mother and son were buried in one grave in the old burial-ground at Forty Fort, not far from their home. Benjamin Smith was married (2d) some years later to Zurviah (born Groton, Connecticut, January 4. 1758), second daughter and third child of Capt. William and Judith ( Reed) Gallup, mentioned in the note on page 629, ante. Benjamin Smith died at his home in what is now the borough of Forty Fort January 19, 1816, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and his widow Zurviah died May 18, 1840, in the eighty-third year of her age. Zurviah (Gallup) Smith bore her husband no children.

Benjamin and Welthea Ann ( York) Smith were the parents of five children, all of whom were born in Kingston Township, as follows: (i) John, born November 4, 1789 ; for many years a well-known phy- sician in Wilkes-Barre. where he died August 24, 1809. (ii) Olive, born about 1791; married before March, 1821, to Lodovick Gaylord of Wyalusing, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, son of Justus Gaylord, Jr., and grandson of Justus Gaylord (1782-1820). (iii) Amos, born 1793 ; died September 27, 1804. (iv) Peirce, born about 1795; married March 5, 1817, to Ada, daughter of Capt. Thomas and Eleanor (Shontz) Jenkins ; died subsequently to 1806. (v) Phebe, born about 1797; married before March, 1821, to Jonathan Fellows of Huntington Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

For further references to Benjamin Smith and his family see "The Harvey Book," page 908.

* (v) PEREGRINE GARDNER mentioned in the note on page 254, Vol. I.

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"Now ye true Intent and meaning of ye Condition of ye above obligation is that if ye. above Bounden PEREGREEN GARDNER His Heirs Execurs or adminors or either of them shall well and truly pay unto Zebulon Butler, Stephen Fuller or Timothy Smith or to ye rest of ye Comtee of setlers or to their Heirs &c : ye full and Just sum of Fifteen pounds Lawfull money of New England on or before ye first Day of July which will be in ye year of our Lord 1773 with Lawfull Interest thereon from ye first Day of July Next Comeing untill paid, and also to Do all ye Duties on sd Right agreeable to ye votes of sd Company, that then ye above obligation is to be Nul and void. But on ye sd Gard- ner's Non performance thereof then to stand & Remain in full force & virtue in ye Law. "Signed Sealed & Delivered

in Presence of

[Signed]

"WILLIAM BUCK,

"WILLIAM YOUNG,

"PEREGREEN GARDNER," [L. s.]

In February and March, 1772, the settlers, with very few exceptions, were still living in Fort Wyoming and the Mill Creek block-house- being about equally divided between the two strongholds. In the early part of the Winter of 1771-'72 both the fort and the block-house had been enlarged and strengthened. Miner, in his "History of Wyoming" (pages 139 and 140, and Appendix, 47), gives a brief description of the block-house at Mill Creek, drawn from data furnished him by persons who had been occupants of the block-house at the period mentioned.

"A ditch was dug around the area (nearly an acre); logs, twelve or fourteen feet high, split, were placed perpendicularly in double rows, to break joints, so as to enclose it. Loop-holes to fire through with musketry were provided. . Huts were built all around the inside, against the wall of upright timbers. They were one story high ; several were divided into.a number of small but neat and comfortable rooms. The huts of Captain Butler and Nathan Denison adjoined each other. Next in the row was the store of Matthias Hollenback. He had brought up from Lancaster County a variety of indispensable articles. * *

The next in order-the largest building in the stockade-was a boarding- house kept by Dr. Joseph Sprague. Neither a chair nor table nor bed- stead, except the rude construction of an augur and ax, was yet in the settlement. A samp mortar-that is, a large stump hollowed eight or ten inches by burning, the pestle worked by a spring pole-pounded corn, wheat and rye for bread; and this was their only mill. Venison and shad were plenty, but salt was a treasure. Dr. Sprague would load his horse with wheat and go out by the bridle path* (for as yet there was no road) to the Delaware at Cushetunk, have, his grist ground, get

a few spices and a runlet of Antigua rum. *

* A small number of Indians, friendly and good neighbors, lived on the flatst half a mile above Mill Creek, and frequently. visited the stockade. Among them were 'Capt.' Job Chillaway, # 'Black Henry' and John Lystrum. The wife of 'Captain' Chillaway seemed pious and well disposed. From. the Moravians she had derived the name of 'Comfort,' and the knowledge to knit and to sew. The men were excellent hunters, and supplied the fort with game."

At a town-meeting held January 21, 1772, § it was voted that Wil- liam Stewart and Phineas Peirce should "have settling rights in ye township of Forty"; and that "Doctr Sprague [was] to have a settling right in Wilksbury, provided he gave a bond of fifty dollars to Capt. Butler and ye rest of ye Comtee for ye use of ye Company." Early in

* The "Upper Road to the Delaware," described on page 646.

t At or near the site of the former Monsey village, Matchasaung, described on page 213, Vol. I. # See pages 650 and 701.

¿ See page 1,067 of "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre," previously mentioned.

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February, 1772, in accordance with the abovementioned vote, Dr. Joseph Sprague, who, some four months previously, had come from Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York (see page 713), executed to Messrs. Butler, Fuller and Smith a bond in the sum of £30, conditioned for the payment of £15, with interest, on or before July 1, 1773. "Att a meeting of the Inhabitants at Wyoming legally warned and held in Wilksbury January 27, 1772, John Smith, Esq., was chosen Moderator. The meeting was opened, and adjourned by reason of ye badness of ye weather until the 31st instant, at ten of ye clock in ye forenoon." At the adjourned meeting held on January 31st Curtis Spaulding and Isaac Underwood were "admitted into ye township Forty"; Cyprian Hibbard was admitted on the right of his brother William Hibbard, and Asa Stevens was admitted into the township of Wilkes-Barre, and gave his bond for fifty dollars. It was "Voted, That Mr. Forgason is not excepted as a setler on John Staples Right by this Company; therefore ye sd Forgason is voted out by this Company, to depart out of this Com- pany, &c." Eleazar Carey was admitted as a settler in the Forty Town- ship, provided he should give to the committee a bond for sixty dollars. A legally-warned meeting of the inhabitants was held at Fort Wyoming February 25, 1772, and John Smith, Esq., was chosen Mod- erator. The meeting was then adjourned till February 27th, "by reason ye people on ye west side of ye river can't pass over-ye river being so high." The following extracts are from the minutes* of the meet- ing held February 27th.

"Ye Proprietors in each settling town that is not now filled up shall have ye liberty to admit in settlers into their respective towns until the vacant rights are all filled up in each town, without being voted in by this Company. Voted, That ye right that Capt. Robert Hopkins is on is voted to Robert Dixson. Voted, That Captain Attwaters has no right in ye township Forty & is excluded out of said Forty Township."

The following is a copyt of one of the bonds given to the Commit- tee representing the proprietors of Wilkes-Barre, under the abovemen- tioned resolution regarding the admission of new settlers into the town- ships of Wilkes-Barre, Hanover, Kingston, Plymouth and Pittston.

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that I JOHN ABBOTTt Late of windham But Now of wilksbury on ye Susquehannah Purchase am Holden and stand firmly Bound unto JOHN SMITH, PEREGREEN GARDNER and AARON WILDER a Comtee for ye town of

*See page 1,050 of "The Town Book of wilkes Barre."

t See the original in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

JOHN ABBOTT was born in the town of Windham, Windham County, Connecticut. September 27, 1741. the seventh and youngest child of Philip and Abigail (Bickford) Abbott, mentioned in the note on page 718. George Abbot, or Abbott, born in Yorkshire, Hugland, about 1615, settled in 1648 at Andover, Massachusetts, where he was married in 1647 to Hannah Chandler (born in 1629). He died in 1681 and she died in 1711. They were the parents of sixteen children, the sixth of whom, William, was born November 18, 1657, and died October 21, 1718. He was married to Elizabeth Gray (who died in December. 1712), and they became the parents of twelve children, among whom were Paul and Philip. Paul Abbott had a son Benjamin ( born July 25, 1724), who was the father of Asa Abbott (born May 25, 1756), who was married to Mrs. Sarah ( Bidlack ) Fuller, as mentioned in the note on page 718.

Philip Abbott, mentioned above, was born April 8, 1609, the ninth child of William and Elizabeth (Gray) Abbott. He was a farmer, and in 1722 removed from Andover and settled in Windham, Connecti- cut, where he was married October 8, 1728, to Abigail Bickford, and where he died April .17, 1749. Philip and Abigail (Bickford) Abbott became the parents of the following-named children, all born in Wind- ham : (1) Joks, born July 12, 1724 ; died July 18, 1740. (ii) Abiel, born March 8, 1726 ; died May 21, 1772. (iii) Stephen, born April 21, 1728 : married January 8, 1750, to Freelove Burgess, and had Susannah, born October 23, 1752. (iv)' Hannah, born March 16, 1780. (v) "Mary, born July 6. 1782; married to Stephen Fuller, as previously mentioned ; died May 5, 1803. (vi) Joseph, born February 14, 1735. (vii) John, born September 27, 1741 ; killed in August. 1778.

(ii) Abiel Abbott, who was a Captain in the Connecticut militia, was named as one of the grantees in the Indian deed of July, 1754 (see page 272. Vol. I), he having subscribed for one share, or right, in the Susquehanna Purchase. In February, 1772, he conveyed one-half of this right to his son Philip. (ii) Abiel Abbott was married at Windham June 5, 1750, to Abigail Fenton. Abiel died May 21. 1772, at Wind- ham, and his widow was afterwards married to John Chamberlain of Amenia Precinct, Dutchess County, New York, and died August 14. 1776. The children of Abiel and Abigail (Fenton) Abbott were : (1) Philip, born March 28, 1751 ; died March 8, 1884. (2) James, born March 9, 1758. (8) Abiel, born Novem- ber 28, 1754. (4) Abigail, born February 21, 1763. (5) Anna, born September 18, 1765.

(1) Philip Abbott, eldest child of Capt. Abiel Abbott, came to Wyoming Valley from Windham, Con- necticut, early in March, 1772, in company with his uncle (vii) John Abbott, and was admitted as a settler in Wilkes-Barre. When, in the ensuing month, a distribution of the Wilkes-Barre lands was made to the

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proprietors of the township (see page 727), Philip Abbott was allotted Lot No. 34 in the town-plot, Lot No. 44 in the Ist Division, Lot No. 37 in the 3d Division and Lot No. 11 in the 4th Division. These lots he owned until September 28, 1777, when he conveyed them to his brother James, who, June 13, 1787, sold them to Matthias Hollenback. Philip Abbott remained at Wilkes-Barre only until 1773 or 74, and then returned to Windham County, where, at Brooklyn, July 6. 1775, he was married by the Rev. Josiah Whit- ney to Anna Hewitt. She died December 29, 1786, and a year or two later Philip Abbott returned to Wilkes- Barre with his children. March 17, 1815, he was married (2d) at Wilkes-Barre to Mabel Merritt. He died at Kingston, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1884, aged eighty-three years. The children of (1) Philip and Anna (Hewitt) Abbott who grew to maturity were: (i) Philip, born April 14, 1781; died August 1, 1854. (ti) James Hewitt, born in 1786 : died in 1809. (iii) Hannah, born February 28, 1788; married June 13, 1807. to Luther Yarington of Wilkes-Barre (see sketch of Yarington family) ; died May 28, 1858. (iv) Abiel, born October 7, 1790; died October 2, 1838. (v) Mary, born in 1793 ; became the wife of Dr. Josiah Jack- son, of Kingston, Pennsylvania.

(i) Philip Abbott, son of Philip and Anna ( Hewitt) Abbott, came to Wyoming Valley with his father, brothers and sisters. December 25, 1805, he was married at Tobyhanna, then in Northampton, but now in Monroe, County, Pennsylvania, to Lucy Waller. She died May 27, 1822, and September 5, 1836, Philip Abbott was married to Sybil (born February 17, 1802; died in August, 1879), daughter of John and Sybil Gridley and widow of Edward Rohn, all of Wilkes-Barre. (i) Philip Abbott was, in middle life, a con- tractor and builder, and in the years 1885-'87 built a number of locks and dams in the Lehigh River for The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company mentioned below. A few years later, in partnership with his son Merritt, he constructed the first railway in Wyoming Valley. (See Chapter XLVIII.) Philip Abbott died August 1, 1854, in Plains Township, Luzerne County, where, for a number of years, he had been a farmer and a Justice of the Peace. By his first wife he had the following-named children : Merritt (born in 1806 ; md. to Isabella Adams), Eliza (1808), Anna Maria (born in 1810; md. to Thomas Van Horn), Polly W. (born in 1812; md. to Luther Andrus), Arrilla W. (1816). By his second wife Philip Abbott had : (1) Lucy Waller (born May 18, 1838; married November 8, 1856, to Richard C. Totten of Wilkes-Barre) and (2) Philip. The last-named was born in Wilkes-Barre April 8, 1840. From 1855 to 1866 he was a clerk in the hardware establishment of Ziba Bennett, Wilkes-Barre, and from 1866 to 1888 was a member of the firm of Z. Bennett & Co. (successors to Ziba Bennett). In 1884 Mr. Abbott removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he now resides-being engaged with his elder son in the manufacturing business at Minneapolis. (2) Philip Abbott was married at Wilkes-Barre October 12, 1869, to Jennie, daughter of George and Sarah (Sealy) Willetts, and they are the parents of two sons (both born in Wilkes-Barre): (i) Clinton Philit Abbott, born October 28, 1875; graduated at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, in 1889. (ii) John G. Abbott. born August 26, 1878 ; graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1806, and now practising medicine in St. Paul.

(iv) Abiel Abbott, son of Philip and Anna (Hewitt) Abbott, was, at the age of fourteen years, indentured to George Chahoon of Wilkes-Barre to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. He served seven years as an apprentice, and then pursued his trade on his own account. On Sunday, October 17, 1818, he was mar- ried at Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, by the Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, to Celinda (born 1795). daughter of Elisha and Eunice ( Carver) Atherton of Kingston. (See a sketch of the Atherton family in a subsequent chapter.) In 1814 Abiel Abbott went to Mauch Chunk, in the employ of Messrs. Miner, Cist & Co. of Wyoming Valley, who were attempting to mine and ship anthracite coal from a bed near Manch Chunk. (For an account of that venture, and Abiel Abbott's connection with it, see Chapter LI.) Re- turning to Wilkes-Barre after a few months' absence Mr. Abbott opened a carpenter-shop here and re- sumed work at his trade. September 4, 1815. he became a member of Lodge No. 61, F. & A. M., of Wilkes- Barre. When, in 1819. The Lehigh Navigation Company (afterwards The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company) began its operations at and near Mauch Chunk, Abiel Abbott-having lost by fire at Wilkes- Barre his shop, tools and, indeed, all the profits of several years' industry, and his wife and infant daugh- ter having died July 2, 1817-went down to Mauch Chuuk with several other Wilkes-Barre men in search of employment. Messrs. White and Hazard soon learned to appreciate Abiel Abbott's merits. They found in him, in addition to a correct knowledge of his trade, a sound judgment, enlarged and liberal views in respect to business in general, quickness to discern and skill to execute ; and all these qualities were com- bined with strict integrity and spotless houor. Within fifteen years Mr. Abbott rose to the position of Superintendent of the L. C. & N. Company's works, with a salary of $2,500. per annum, which, for those days, was a large one. Early in 1888, finding that his health was giving way, he purchased a farm in Kings- ton Township, to which he removed with his family a few months later, and there he died October 2 18.8. In 1822 he had married (2d) Sybil Wheeler (born 1792), daughter of James Wheeler, who bore him six children, as follows : James W. (Cashier, at one time, of the First National Bank of Tamaqua, Pennsyl- vania), Celinda, Edwin, Anna, Hannah and Louisa. Mrs. Sybil ( Wheeler) Abbott died August 14, 1863, and is buried by the side of her husband in Forty Fort Cemetery. By his first wife Abiel Abbott had two children ; (1) Jacob Dorman, b. at Wilkes-Barre in 1815, and died at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 5, 1888. (2) Celinda, born and died at Wilkes-Barre in 1817.

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A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 20

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press] Number of Pages: 683

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683