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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume IV > Part 24
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
Andrew Beaumont and John F. Palmer. Ile served until June, 1814, when he was removed. Subsequent teachers are Rev. Wm. Woodring, 1815, Josiah H. Miner, 1816, Samuel Turney, Rev. Samue Phinney, till 1817, Joseph II. Jones, Joel Jones, Milton P. Orton, Mr. Talcott, 1828, Daniel Ulman, 1830, Israel Dickinson with Dr. C. F. Ingham as assist- ant. From 1837 to the close of the Academy's existence the principal was Sylvester Dana.
"As janitors John Miller served from 1809 till his death, November 16, 1824. He was familiarly known as Speck Miller. He was followed by John Tilghman, who was succeeded by John Michael Kienzle, better known as Old Michael "The trustees serving at various times from 1807 to 1838 were as follows: Rev. Ard. Hoyt, Charles Miner, George Dennison, Lord Butler, Thomas Dyer, Chester Butler, Jesse Fell, Lawrence Myers, David Scott, Matthias Hollen- back, Nathan Beach, Andrew Beaumont, William Ross, Joseph Sinton, Joseph McCoy, Peleg Tracy, Garrick Mallery, John N. Conyngham, Rosewell Welles, Stephen Tuttle, Jacob J. Dennis, Ebenezer Bowman. Rev. Wm. Woodbridge, Wm. S. Ross, Samuel Bowman, Nathan Palmer, Wm. L. Bowman, John P. Arndt, Dr. Edward Covell, Dr. T. W. Miner, Arnold Colt, Hon. John B. Gibson, Rev. James May, Dr. Matthew Covell, Henry Clymer, John L. Butler, Joseph Slocum, Josiah HI. Miner, C. D. Shoemaker, Benjamin Perry, Rev. Geo. Lane, Ziba Bennett, Thomas Graham, G. M. Holenback. James McClintock, Rev. John Dorrance, Lewis Worrall, V. L. Maxwell. Biographical sketches of the trustees were also given "
*Mr. Gildersleeve who like many others whose opinions were in advance of their times, lived to see his views shared by practically all his townspeople and the cause for which he suffered martyrdom become a triumphant issue of the Civil war, died in Wilkes-Barre, October 7, 1871.
1945
was conveyed under cover of darkness to the next friendly station. Providence was then the largest village between Wilkes-Barre and Carbondale. It, like Wilkes-Barré, possessed a station whose destinies were controlled by converts to the cause of liberty for all human beings. To Providence, Mr. Gildersleeve made many nocturnal trips, in each case accompanied by one or more of the hunted creatures. From Providence, the "underground" left the valleys of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna, the objective being Montrose, where allies of Mr. Gildersleeve were prepared to set the fugitives another step on the way to freedom. By those content to let the law take its course in such matters or who, at that period, openly favored slavery as an institution recognized by the Constitution and protected by its laws, the abolitionist was held as an object of contempt and ridicule.
Mr. Gildersleeve suffered accordingly. But having set his hand to the plow, he was not one to be turned back. In opposition to general sentiment and in defiance of frequent warnings, he brought the Rev. John Cross to Wilkes-Barré and announced on January 27, 1837, that the speaker would address residents on the subject of slavery. All churches of the community denied the use of their buildings for the purpose.
County commissioners being approached as to the use of the court house for the discussion, curtly refused such permission. Mr. Gildersleeve then opened his own home and invited all who cared to hear the address to enter. A few hardy souls responded to the invitation.
While the meeting was in progress a crowd gathered outside, becoming more pronounced in its hostility as the discussion proceeded.
Finally the mob forced the door and entered the room where the small company had gathered. But Mr. Cross, in spite of threats of personal violence went on with his discourse. Unable to silence him, the mob eventually withdrew after removing objectionable pictures from the walls and carrying away the fence and shrubbery in the yard. Two years later, Mr. Gildersleeve brought on another abolitionist speaker in the person of a Mr. Burleigh of Boston, who had gained both fame and notoriety by his utterances and writings. Upon this occasion, no opportunity for a public meeting was vouchsafed. Shortly after the arrival of Mr. Burleigh at the home of Mr. Gildersleeve, a more determined mob than that which had assembled on the former occasion, quickly broke open the doors of the house and made search for the object of their wrath. Mr. Burleigh how- ever, had escaped to the home of Judge Dana, who shared anti-slavery views to some extent, and later was taken under guard to the Phoenix hotel to await an outgoing stage. The mob, robbed of its intended prey, decided to vent its spleen upon Mr. Gildersleeve.
Induced by a subterfuge to visit the hotel, he was then set upon by the assembled crowd and a pail of black dye poured over his head and liands. A tarred fence rail was then produced and, borne on the shoulders of his persecutors, Wilkes-Barré's outstanding abolitionist was "ridden" from the hotel to his home on North Franklin street. The presence of Mr. Gildersleeve's daughter, who fought her way through the crowd and took determined position at her father's side during the unhappy ride, probably prevented further violence at the hands of the jeering captors. Not content with setting down the victim in front of his home, the crowd remained, smashing windows and destroying such furniture
1946
as could be reached. Charles F. Reets, an eye witness of the outrage, thus described its events many years afterwards in a newspaper interview:
"I well remember one morning when I was taking an early breakfast at the oid White Horse in 1839, said Mr. Reets, 'when the girl came and called me to the door'.
"See here, Mr. Reets; here comes Mr. Gildersleeve on the rail!
"I went to the door and there was W. C. Gildersleeve being ridden on a rail. He was a rank abolitionist. I remember that Hiram Dennis was at one end of the rail. Of the four I cannot remember the rest. They had tar hanging on the rail. Gildersleeve had induced a noted Eastern abolitionist to come here to deliver a lecture. The following morning the men of the town called at the hotel to see the lecturer who had been prevented from speaking and Gildersleeve walked down to the old Phoenix Hotel. The minute Gildersleeve arrived he was told his horse' was ready. They had a rail leaning from the walk on the porch rail and it was only a moment's work to compel Gildersleeve to take his position, and he was then given a free ride up Market street to Franklin and from that street to his home, about 400 feet up the street, followed by a large crowd. To the best of my recollection some of the crowd broke into the kitchen of Gildersleeve's home and de- stroyed some of his furniture. The lecturer disappeared from town early that morning, taking the stage for the East. Between 10 and 11 o'clock that morning, 'Squire Dyer read the riot act to the crowd, telling them to disperse as they were rebels. The crowd did not obey the 'squire, but finally about noon I saw James Nesbitt, father of Abraham Nesbitt, president of the Second National Bank, and Mr. Norton, a harness maker, go past with horse pistols. They repaired to the front of Gildersleeve's house and at the point of their pistols commanded the crowd to dis- perse. Both Nesbitt and Norton were determined men and had the respect of the community, and the crowd soon melted away."
Various meetings held in relation to affairs of the academy naturally led to discussion of educational matters in general. Wilkes-Barré's one established school was intended primarily for boys. The question of a school for girls pre- sented itself insistently. For a time the question was answered by individual teachers. In the Republican Farmer, April 24, 1839, the following advertisement appeared :
"WILKES-BARRE FEMALE SEMINARY.
"This institution will be open on the first Wednesday in May for the reception of pupils. The course of study will embrace three years, including the primary class, each year consisting of two terms of 22 weeks each.
"The course will embrace the following studies:
"PRIMARY CLASS
"Ist Term-Orthography, reading, writing, grammar, geography, arithmetic, history, composition, etc., etc.
"2d Term-Studies of the preceding term reviewed and continued; outline of history, natural philosophy.
"JUNIOR CLASS
"Ist Term-Grammar, arithmetic, history, geography, rhetoric with a reference to com- position, physiology.
"2d Term-Grammar, chemistry, intellectual philosophy, geography of the heavens, algebra, logie and composition.
"SENIOR CLASS.
"Ist Term-Algebra continued, logie, Euelid, Abercrombie on Moral Feelings, astronomy, history, composition.
"2d Term-Euclid, moral science, Evidence of Christianity, Butler's Analogy, chemistry, geology.
"TERMS.
"For board, lights, fuel, etc., with tuition in English branches, $75 per term.
"For tuition of day pupils in English branches, $6 per quarter.
Washing per dozen.
5 .50
For tuition in French 5.00
For tuition in Drawing and Painting . 4.00
For tuition in Music. 3.00
Use of piano. 2.00
"Provisions will be made for instruction in Latin and Greek without any additional charge to the pupil.
"The department of Education will be under the direction of Miss F. M. Woodworth. The Seminary is delightfully situated on the bank of the Susquehanna."
This school, a predecessor of the Wilkes-Barré Institute, was opened in a private home on River street and for a period of three years satisfied such
1947
local demands as were placed upon it. The times, however, did not make for the prosperity of a private institution unaided by state or individual subscriptions. Try as its principals and teachers would, they were unable to make financial ends meet. In the spring of 1844, a meeting of citizens resolved upon the incorpor- ation of a girls school, thus placing it on somewhat the same basis as the Academy.
It was thereupon chartered as the Wilkes-Barré Female Seminary and arrangements were made with officials of the Academy for the use of two rooms in the new brick building. The Misses Sarah F. Tracy and Augusta J. Donley were placed in charge of the reorganized seminary and announcement of the reopening date on Monday August 18, 1844, was contained in the Advocate of August 7th.
As a matter of information to parents and pupils expecting to attend, an early pamphlet of the school gave the following:
"For the information of distant parents, the board of trustees state, that the Seminary which was incorporated by recent act of assembly, united with the 'Wyoming Academy,' another incorporated school designed for boys, in the erection on the Public Square in the Borough of Wilkes-Barré, of a large and commodious brick building, which is divided into rooms of a con- venient size, neatly finished and furnished with all the apparatus for the comfortable and success- ful prosecution of the business of education. The union of the schools in the same house, will enable the teacher of the Academy, who is a graduate of Yale College, to give assistance, when desired, to the higher classes of the Female department, although the schools are entirely separate.
"The pupils of the two schools, enter the building from opposite sides and have no com- munication whatever with each other. The Trustees have secured the services of two young ladies, in whose qualifications they have entire confidence. They have also established a system of visitation which they think will exert a highly favourable influence on the school, and enable them from time to time to award merited honors to the pupils. The Board consists of nine Trustees who have resolved themselves into three visiting Committees, by whom the school will be visited and examined, alternately on the first Monday in each month. The Committees are as follows:
"No. 1. Reverend R. B. Claxton, Nathaniel Rutter, H. F. Lamb.
"No. 2. Reverend John Dorrance, John N. Conyngham, Luther Kidder.
"No. 3. H. B. Wright, Isaac S. Osterhout, Geo. W. Woodward.
"The trustees are determined to promote in the school a system of thorough female edu- cation and to make it worthy of the confidence and patronage of the public.
"By order and in behalf of the Board.
"GEO. W. WOODWARD, Secty."
In 1845, the Rev. A. H. Hand, formerly pastor of the Berwick Presbyterian church became principal of the Seminary. For a period of approximately eight years both the academy and Seminary organizations functioned side by side in the one building. By 1853 the growing attendance of each school made other arrangements necessary. Like Old Ship Zion, from which had come four con- gregations, the brick school building, like a full hive, was getting ready to swarm. Upon the Seminary fell the burden of securing new quarters. Those who had the matter much in thought then determined upon a different form of incorpor- ation for the girl's school. Those willing to give financial aid in a large way to the new venture were, in the main, members of the First Presbyterian church. Morever the pastor of this church, the Rev. Dr. John Dorrance was especially active in affairs concerned with the school. A charter was thereupon applied for and granted, by order of the Court, April 10, 1854, which provided that control of the "literary Institution to be known as the Wilkes-Barré Institute shall be under direction of the Presbytery of Luzerne." Further provisions of the charter designated that of the thirteen members of the board of trustees, the pastor of the church and at least six members of his congregation must be named by the Presbytery. After clothing the board with general powers, the charter then provided that "they shall not have power to alienate the real estate of the corporation without the consent of the church in writing
1948
obtained at a meeting of said congregation held in pursuance of at least two weeks' notice given from the pulpit of the church."*
The following trustees were named in the charter of the Institute: George M. Hollenback, Alexander Gray, Henry M. Fuller, Harrison Wright, Andrew T. McClintock, John Faser, John Urquhart, Elisha B. Harvey, all of Wilkes-Barré, Ario Pardee of Hazleton, Samuel Wadhams of Plymouth, John Brown of White Haven, William R. Glen of Tamaqua, with Dr. Dorrance member ex-officio. At the first meeting of the trustees held April 15, 1854, George M. Hollenback was named president, John Faser, treasurer and Edward M. Covell, secretary. A committee was appointed to solicit funds for land and building which shortly thereafter reported a gift of valuable real estate from Henry M. Fuller, which gift was later augmented by an additional lot of land given by Mr. Hollenback, the whole comprising what are now lots numbered 154, 158 and 164 South River street. Subscriptions from one hundred and five residents, varying in amount from $1,000.00 to $5.00 are noted on the original subscription books of the Institute, the sum total being about $5,000.00 With a major portion of these subscriptions in hand, a building committee was empowered to construct a three story brick build- ing on the newly acquired property, the interior arrangements affording several class rooms together with dor- WILKES-BARRÉ INSTITUTE-Erected 1854 mitory accommodations for a limited number of boarding students.
The Luzerne Presbyterial Institute located at Troy (now the Borough of Wyoming) being likewise under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery, it was recommended by that body that the latter school be made "as far as practicable a school for young men and boys in order to have under our care institutions providing for the separate training of each sex."t
The Presbytery likewise recommend the Rev. Joseph E. Nassau, a resident of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, as a suitable candidate for principal of the Institute, which recommendation was favorably acted by the board. He entered upon his duties in September following, when the new building was opened with an encouraging number of students. The history of the Institute from that time forth, until comparatively recent years was one of struggles, of frequent changes in the personnel of principals and teaching staff, of periods of prosperity inter- spersed between periods of adversity. Owing to a demand for the education of local boys under denominational influences, a boys' school was run in con- junction with the Institute, Rev. Winfield S. Parsons of Pottstown being called to the head of the boys' department in 1856. During the Civil war and for a considerable period thereafter, the Institute existed almost in name only. Upon
*Two occasions have called into use this proviso of the chapter. In 1876 the congregation voted affirmatively upon disposing of the school property on South River Street and again in 1924, a like permission was granted to the board to dispose of the present school building on South Franklin Street preparatory to the erection of a modern school plant in Forty Fort.
tThis school closed its doors finally in 1877.
1949
the initiative of Rev. Francis B. Hodge, a brother of Rev. Dr. A. A. Hodge, pastor of the church, interest in the school was revived in 1872. New blood was transfused to the board of trustees and the concern of the Presbytery, then the Lackawanna Presbytery, secured in the undertaking.
The school was not, however, formally reorganized nor its doors opened to students until the fall term of 1876. In the meanwhile the River street property had become much dilapidated and it was determined by the board to sell the real estate for home building purposes. Consequently a sale was effected to Charles Parrish and with funds derived therefrom, the board in May, 1876, purchased from Edward Welles a plot of ground at the corner of South street and Barnum Place intending to erect a new building at that location.
A delay in building plans deterred further action by the board until August. 1880, when it was found that the large house which had been occupied by the late Hon. George W. Woodward was on the market. This the trustees then bought. It has been, since it was remodeled in 1881, the site of the Institute, but pursuant to plans adopted by the board in the spring of 1924, this site was sold to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society and a modern school plant built on a commodious plot of ground on Wyoming avenue, Forty Fort. From its reor- ganization in 1877 to 1897, the Institute was under the management and direction of Miss Elizabeth H. Rockwell who came from Springfield, Massachusetts, to assume her duties in that connection. The administration of Miss Rockwell proved highly satisfactory to the board and was marked by an improvement in curriculum and attendance which is still in progress under the aggressive and in- telligent leadership of Miss Anna M. Olcott who was advanced from teacher to principal in the fall of 1912 .*
Among the earlier educational institutions of the Wyoming valley which have survived to the present, Wyoming Seminary at Kingston holds unique position. Like similar foundations at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other institutions of the east, its beginnings were the fruit of religious convictions, inspired by unselfish motives and attuned to high ideals. As has been related in a previous chapter, the Methodist church had flourished in the Wyoming Valley. The school with no ties that might bind it to leveling influences of state-dictated policies, and with its roots imbedded in the teachings of that denomination where its influences are now so widely felt, made appealing call upon the com- munity. At a session of the Oneida conference held in Wilkes-Barré August 9, 1843, this sentiment crystallized in a resolution appointing Rev. David Holmes of Wilkes-Barre, Rev. Lucian S. Bennett of the Kingston and Wyoming circuit, Rev. Silas Comfort of the Susquehanna district, Thomas Myers and Madison F. Myers of Kingston, Lord Butler and Sharp D. Lewis of Wilkes-Barré "trustees of a contemplated Seminary of learning to be located either in Wilkes-Barré or Kingston according to the larger amount of subscriptions secured on the first of October to which time the subscriptions were to be kept open." In thus pitting two sections of the same community against each other for the distinction of becoming the site of the proposed institution, the conference seems to have mixed a bit of shrewd business acumen with sentiment. Committees on each side of the river began the work of solicitation. In an address delivered at the
*An interesting sketch of the history and attainments of the Wilkes-Barré Institute was given by the Hon. George R. Bedford, a member of the board of trustees for many years, at the Sixtieth Anniversary Commencement, 1914. This address was afterward printed in pamphlet form and to it the reader is referred for many additional facts relating to the school.
1950
Seminary by Rev. L. L. Sprague, D. D. on Founder's Day, June 15, 1919, due credit for securing the larger amount of contributions on the West Side was given to Rev. William Reddy, a young minister of the Kingston-Wyoming circuit, who gave the task of solicitation practically his entire time.
When the time set for deciding the location of the Sem- inary arrived, it was found that Rev. Mr. Reddy had secured sufficient subscrip- tions to guarantee completion of a build- ing and accordingly a contract was let for $4700.00 to Thomas Myers. The building was erected on a plot fronting on College street, Kingston, do- nated by Mr. Myers, and was completed September 17, 1844. A charter for the in- stitution having in the meanwhile been ap- plied for, the trustees began the task of sift- ing applications for LEVI L. SPRAGUE, D. D., L. H. D. the position of prin- cipal. The choice of Reuben Nelson was a most fortunate one. He was a graduate of Hartwick Seminary and Union College. For a time he had been principal of Otsego Academy where he attempted to add to his scholastic duties the work of a preaching circuit.
The strain he had found too great and, when elected to his new position he was recuperating from a breakdown in health. The building having been dedicated September 25, 1844, its doors were thrown open to students.
From the start, the institution made a rapid headway. By the end of the first year its faculty had grown from two to seven, composed of the following:
"Prof. Nelson, principal and instructor in Latin and Greek.
"Mrs. Eliza Y. York, preceptress.
"Prof. E. E. Ferris, teacher of the normal department.
"W. W. Ketcham, a student teacher of mathmaties.
"Miss Sarah Tomkins, teacher of elementary English.
"Mrs. Nelson, wife of the principal, teacher of drawing and painting.
"Miss Emily H. Schott, teacher of music."
In its second year, the Seminary attracted nearly two hundred students. most of them pupils in the course in elemental English. It has been character-
1951
istic of the Seminary, as it is of most of America's institutions of learning, that funds sufficient to meet expenses have never been accumulated from tuition fees. As numbers of students increased and the scope of its courses widened this deficit between income and outgo was likewise widened. For several years after its foundation, the Seminary was saved from closing only after recourse to judgment notes and the inevitable subscription paper. The skies cleared somewhat in 1850, when a generous contribution from William Swetland of Wyoming, then a trustee, made pos- sible the building of a wing to the original building in order to overcome crowded conditions. A similar wing was planned for the other end of the building but, at a time when the future seemed most promis- ing, fire, which begun early in the morning of March 15, 1853, destroyed the school building, the new Swetland wing and wiped out the Bennett library, a donation to the Seminary from Judge Ziba Bennett of Wilkes-Barré. Dr. Nelson and friends of the institution faced a serious situation. But once again com- petition came to the assistance of its foun- ders. Wilkes-Barré again made overtures REUBEN NELSON, A. M., D. D. for relocating the Seminary on a two acre plot along South Main street. A com- mittee, consisting of Judge Bennett, Lord Butler and W. W. Loomis offered a guaranteed subscription list totalling $7,000 as a substantial background for their request. The trustees, however, voted six to three against the offer, basing their decision upon charter provisions which named Kingston as the site of the Seminary.
The task of raising funds was therefore begun in earnest and from the pro- ceeds of these the buildings now known as Administration Hall and Union Hall were erected and Swetland Hall, contributed entirely by Mr. Swetland, completed. Judge Bennett generously replaced the library which still bears his name. In 1866, at the Centenary celebration of American Methodism, Dr. Nelson canvassed the Wyoming conference (set off in 1852 from the Oneida conference) for funds
1952
for a much needed new building. There was raised a sum of $25,000 for the purpose. From this fund grew Centenary Hall a year later. In 1871 additional land was purchased in rear of this building which provided room for Nesbitt Hall when that dignified structure was made possible in 1894 through the gener- osity of Abram Nesbitt .* Nelson Memorial Hall, containing the chapel of the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.