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 V > Part 62
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Their son, William W. Farnham, born April 20, 1720, died March 14, 1777; he married, June 23, 1742, Martha Fuller, daughter of Stephen and Hannah ( Moulton) Fuller, of Hampton, Connecticut-not the Fullers who came over to this country in the "Mayflower," but of Lieutenant Thomas Fuller, the ancestor of Margaret Fuller, the celebrated authoress who married the Marquis 1)'Ossoli, an Italian- nobleman, and lived in a castle in Italy ; on their return to this country in an unseaworthy vessel a storm was encountered and she and her hus- band and child were lost. William W. Farnham and his sons, Ralph and Daniel, were soldiers in the Revolu- tion ; William was captured by the British at the Battle of Long Island, and was confined in the same prison ship with his nephew, Sergeant Daniel Farnham, and died there. Stephen Farnham, son of William W., enlisted for three years, or for the duration, in Captain Parke's company, the 2nd Connecticut Line, and was captured July 2, 1777. Ralph Farnham, son of William, known among Connecticut troops as the biggest man among them, was badly wounded at the Battle of White Plains, and "Bijah" Fuller, his cousin, much smaller, successfully carried him off the field on his shoulder while the British
threatened to shoot them both down. Zebediah Farnham ("Diah") was known as the "bully" of the regiment, not in an offensive sense, but as a sort of term of affec- tion.
Their son, Lieutenant Zebediah Farnham, was born June 18, 1721, died August 8, 1814; married July 27, 1743, Mary Fuller, sister of Martha, and daughter of Stephen and Hannah ( Moulton) Fuller. Lieutenant Zebediah Farnham and five of his sons, Zebediah, Jr., Levi, Ebenezer, Daniel, and Thomas, served in the Revolution. Zebediah Farnham, the elder, was first lieu- tenant of the 8th Connecticut Militia, until, 1775, and had the same rank in Colonel Huntington's 17th Connect- icut Regiment until he was wounded, and afterward was lieutenant of marines on the United States Ship "Pro- vidence," from December, 1779, to the close of the war. Zebediah, Jr. was a private in the company of which his father was a lieutenant. Levi, a corporal in the 17th Connecticut Regiment, was taken prisoner at the Battle of Long Island, and starved to death Christmas Day, 1776, on board a British prison ship. Daniel Farnham served as sergeant of the 17th Connecticut Regiment, and was made prisoner in the Battle of Long Island, died of ship fever, caused by poor food and foul air. January 9, 1777, but not on the same ship where his brother Levi perished. Ebenezer Farnham was a private in Captain Branch's company, and received a wound in the retreat from New York. Thomas Farnham was a private at the "Lexington Alarm" and afterward served with the 17th Connecticut Regiment ; he was wounded in the arm, and later served under appointment by Colonel Mc- Clellan as first sergeant of Captain Durkee's company of "Matross." Few families can boast such a military record as this.
Their son, Levi Farnham, born at Windham, Connect- icut, August 13, 1748, died December 5, 1776, a prisoner on a British prison ship in New York Harbor ; he mar- ried, about 1772, Doreas Moulton, born about 1748, daugh- ter of Samuel and Molly ( Haynes) Moulton, of Wales, Massachusetts.
Their son, Captain Samuel Farnham, born at Hamp- ton, Connecticut, December 16, 1775, died August 20, 1822 ; married at Oxford, New York, Sarah Balcome, daugh- ter of Harry Balcome, born May 21, 1780, died February 6, 1859. They removed from Hampton to Chenango County, New York, by way of New London, and became early settlers there.
Their son, Dr. John Perry Farnham, born at Oxford, New York, November 12, 1803, died at Carbondale, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1871. On account of poor health he gave up his medical practice and engaged in mercantile pursuits ; he married, July 22, 1827, Mary Frances Steere, born in Providence, Rhode Island. Feb- ruary 13. 1808, died at Wilkes-Barre, April 8, 1888, daugh- ter of Mark Steere and his wife, Miss Eddy. Mark Steere engaged in the West India trade prior to the War of 1812, and was captured by the British in his own vessel, the "Comet." He was kept a prisoner about a year, but was finally released and returned to New York.
Their son, Alexander Farnham, horn in Carbondale, January 12, 1834, married July 18, 1865, Angusta Dor- rance, daughter of Reverend Dr. John Dorrance and Penelope ( Mercer ) Dorrance. Mrs. Farnham's ancestor, Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance was killed at the Battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1878. Alexander Farnham received his education at Madison Academy. Waverly, Pennsylvania, and had resided in Wilkes-Barre sixty- eight years when he died there February 10, 1920, at the age of eighty-six. He continued his studies at Wyom- ing Seminary, at Kingston. The late Winthrop W. Ket- chum, member of Congress and judge, was his first latin teacher at Wyoming Seminary. Mr. Farnham then be- came a student in the State and National Law School of Ballston Spa, New York, where he graduated at the age of eighteen, and read law in the office of Fuller & Harding at Wilkes-Barre, which was quite a school for young men studying law. Early in 1857 he and the late Governor Henry M. Hoyt formed a partnership which endured until near the close of 1860. During the Civil War he served as first sergeant in Company H, under Captain Stanley Woodward, 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment of militia, Antietam Campaign, 1862, and later as first lieutenant in Captain Samuel Finch's company, 30th Regiment of Pennsylvania militia ; and assistant adjutant- general to Colonel William Brisbane, commanding in 1863 a Pennsylvania Brigade in General William F. Smith's Division.
In 1870 he was the Republican candidate for district attorney, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent.
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Three years later he was elected to the same place. At the end of his term he was put forward for Congress by his party, but he withdrew his name before the con- vention met. He also declined to stand for additional law judge in 1874, 1877 and 1879, in Luzerne and Lacka- wanna counties, and again for Congress. In 1880 he was a supporter of James G. Blaine as a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, but later voted with the delegates who nominated James A. Gar- field. In 1891, at the death of A. T. McClintock, he was made president of the Luzerne Bar Association. He went to the 1892 Republican Convention, and was the Pennsylvania committee member named to notify the successful candidate, Benjamin Harrison. He was a life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological So- ciety, and a man respected and beloved by all who knew him. He was the father of two sons and a daughter : 1. John Dorrance, of whom further. 2. Stella Mercer, born in Wilkes-Barre, May 4, 1873, married Samuel Dexter Warriner, now president of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and they live in Philadelphia. 3. Hamilton, born in Wilkes-Barre, December 15, 1877, de- ceased March 23, 1913; married Laura Hand, daughter, of Isaac P. Hand, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre.
John Dorrance Farnham attended the public schools, Wyoming Seminary at Kingston; Harry Hillman Aca- demy at Wilkes-Barre; and the Hopkins Grammar School at New Haven; and graduated from Yale Uni- versity in the class of 1890 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the Luzerne County Bar in 1892 and took a special course in 1892 and 1893 at the Harvard Law School. As a Republican he served as assistant district attorney for Luzerne County three years, and in 1921 was a candidate for the Republican nomination additional law judge of Luzerne County. He is a member of the Luzerne County Bar Association ; the Psi Upsilon Frater- nity, and the Skull and Bones Society of Yale; the Junior Order of United American Mechanics; and the West- moreland and Wyoming Valley Country clubs. In re- ligions affairs he is a Protestant.
Mr. Farnham married, June 17, 1911, at Wilkes-Barre, Jean Buckalew Waller, of this city, daughter of Levi E. and Alice (Buckalew) Waller. Mrs. Farnham's grandfather, Charles R. Buckalew, was a prominent law- ver and citizen of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and at one time a member of the United States Senate. They have two children, Waller, born May 5, 1912, and Au- gusta Dorrance Farnham, born May 22, 1914.
MISS ANNIE M. RICHARDS-By her own carcer an exponent of the splendid part women may take in public affairs, Miss Annie M. Richards of Plymouth, is well known as a leader in educational circles throughout the entire State of Pennsylvania, a credit to the teaching profession and a citizen whom this community is proud to claim for its own. Miss Richards holds the responsi- ble position of principal of the Junior High School of Plymouth, having returned to this, her native town. in 1923 to accept this office, previous to which she had estab- lished a splendid reputation in the Schools of this State as an educator of exceptional ability, and an executive with a record for accomplishing remarkable achieve- ments in the realm of learning. She has devoted all her active career to the instruction of youth, recognizing and appreciating the tremendous part the children of the present must play in the future of this great land, and all her energy and intellectual endowments have been expended in endeavoring to provide the boys and girls of this vicinity with the finest preparation for their future duties, of which knowledge is the most important.
Miss Richards was born in Plymouth and received her education in the public schools of this town, graduating from high school with the class of 1805. She attended Columbia University, New York, during two summer sessions and then served as a teacher in the local schools for fifteen years, after which she received the appoint- ment to the office of principal of schools in Dorranceton Borough, Luzerne County, where she directed the affairs of the educational system there for eleven years. Miss Richards resigned her position in Dorranceton Borough in 1923 and returned to Plymouth to accept the offer of the principalship of the Junior High School here, and in that capacity she has since remained, securing amazing results in the direction of education from her pupils and managing the instruction of the students under her care with intelligence and discretion, receiving the respect and esteem not only of her pupils but of the entire townspeople, who cannot fail to see the results of her direction and the progress which has been obtained by
her modern and efficient methods. In politics, Miss Rich- ards is a member of the Republican party, and her religious adherence is given to the Presbyterian Church.
Miss Richards' father, Daniel L. Richards, was born in Wales, in 1846, coming to the United States in his youth and taking up the trade of coal miner in which he continued until his death in 1900. Her mother was Mary ( Reese) Richards, born in Wales, in 1856, who died in 1884.
CORNELIUS A. WELSH-The oldest pharmacy in Freeland, Pennsylvania, is the one operated by Cornelius A. Welsh under the name of the Welsh Drug Company, located at No. 722 Center Street. Forty-seven years of reliable service have made this well established concern known to a host of residents in this part of the county. In addition to handling the usual line of drugs and specialties the Welsh Drug Company also manufactures proprietary medicines made by the formulas of the founder of the business, Dr. Frank Schilcher, and manu- factures ice cream in wholesale quantities. Mr. Welsh has three stores besides the central one mentioned above, one more in Freeland, and one each in Hazleton and White Haven.
James Welsh, father of Mr. Welsh, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, but came to this country with his parents, who settled in Jeddo, Luzerne County, Penn- sylvania, where the father was engaged in the mines. The Welsh home was the third house built in Freeland, and James Welsh became one of the successful merchants of the place, as a partner in the firm which operated the first cooperative store in this section. He died at the age of fifty-nine years. Rose Scott, wife of James Welsh, was also born in County Donegal, Ireland, and survives her husband ( 1928).
Cornelius A. Welsh, son of James and Rose (Scott) Welsh, was born in Freeland, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1884, and after completing the usual courses in the public schools was associated with the Hazleton "Sentinel," as correspondent, for a period of seven years. Later, he entered Medico Chi, at Philadelphia, where he finished the pharmaceutical course in 1912. In 1912 he succeeded to the management of the prosperous drug business established by Dr. Frank Schilcher, back in 1881, and since that time he has devoted his time and his energy to the expansion of that well founded business, operat- ing under the name of the Welsh Drug Company. As the original store had already been in operation some thirty-one years at the time Mr. Welsh took charge, he found a very large patronage already his, and had only to keep up the standards established and to progress with the spirit of the times. Dr. Frank Schilcher had embodied some thirty of his well tried and tested prescrip- tiens in proprietary medicines, and these formulas came to Mr. Welsh with the business. He has continued the manufacture of these products, which are distributed throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding States. Along with this somewhat extensive manufacturing interest, the Welsh Drug Company also manufactures wholesale quantities of ice cream. A $10,000 plant takes care of this department of the varied activities of the company, and Mr. Welsh's four stores, two in Freeland, one in Hazleton, and one in White Haven, distribute to the public. The original establishment on Center Street is modern and well equipped and carries a full line of drugs, as well as all of the specialties usually found in drug, stores, such as cigars, toilet articles, ice cream, and soda fountain specialties. Being the oldest pharmacy in Freeland, many of its patrons have traded here for nearly a generation, and the name has long been one which stands for reliable service and quality goods.
Along with his success as a business man, Mr. Welsh has been very active in civic and political affairs, serving as a delegate to State conventions, and giving his sup- port generally to the principles and the candidates of the Democratic party. He is a member of the Free- land Business Men's Association ; a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Freeland ; and a director of the Freeland Building and Loan Asso- ciation. As a member of the State and National Phar- maceutical associations, he is well known to the trade, and throughout this section of Luzerne County Cornelius A. Welsh is recognized as a most able business man, a public-spirited citizen, and a respected associate. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Knights of Columbus, of Beta Phi Sigma college fraternity, and of the Hazleton Kiwanis Club. His religious membership is with St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, of Freeland.
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Cornelius A. Welsh was married, September 6, 1922, to Margaret McHugh, of Frecland, who was formerly a teacher in the commercial department of the Free- land High School. Mrs. Welsh is active in numerous local organizations, including the Civic League, is sec- retary of the local chapter of the Red Cross, and is active and a past president of the Women's Catholic Club. Mr. and Mrs. Welsh make their home at No. 722 Center Street, in Freeland. Both are popular among a large group of associates, and both are citizens who take an effective interest in the general welfare of Freeland.
LOUIS FRANK-Wilkes-Barre is justly proud of a native son in the person of Louis Frank, widely known citizen who is numbered among her most prominent busi- ness men and who rendered worthy service to his coun- try during the Spanish-American War. Mr. Frank has been in the drug business practically all of his life, first as a retailer and, during the last few years in the whole- sale trade, and very successfully in both fields. He has won an enviable place for himself in the estimation of his associates and is not only a force in business but is exceedingly alert and active in civic affairs tending to advance the interests of Wilkes-Barre.
Mr. Frank was born in Wilkes-Barre January I, 1875, son of Bernard and Lena (Neiman) Frank, both de- ceased. Bernard Frank and his wife came to this coun- try from Austria in 1870 and settled in Wilkes-Barre; he was engaged for many years in the grocery business in Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre; and died at the age of fifty-nine years in 1901; his wife died in 1903 at the age of fifty-six.
Louis Frank was reared in Wilkes-Barre and as a boy he attended the public schools. At the age of six- teen years he entered the employ of Dr. Hugh P. Mc- Aniff, Lincoln Street druggist, and learned the funda- mentals of the business. Later he became a drug clerk for Dr. I. H. Moore on South Main Street; thus he perfected himself in the thousand details which are so requisite to successful prosecution of this business in retail and wholesale lines.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898 he enlisted in the 9th Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard, and was assigned to duty as assistant hospital steward. When the regiment was summoned to the service of the United States in the conflict with Spain, he accompanied his command to camp at Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania, and then went with it to camp at Chicka- mauga Park. Tennessee. Since the hospital corps of the Regular Army was inadequate to care for a large volun- teer army, the hospital recruits from civil life were trans- ferred to the United States Army in September of that year. Mr. Frank accordingly served as chief pharmac- ist of the 3rd Division Hospital of the Ist Army Corps at Chickamauga until October, 1898. Thereupon he was transferred to Lexington, Kentucky, as ยท sergeant-major of John Blair Gibbs General Hospital of the Ist Army Corps. On June 1, 1899, he was transferred to Colum- bus, Georgia, and served as chief clerk to the chief sur- geon of the 3rd Brigade, Ist Division, Ist Army Corps. On February 1, 1899, he was placed in charge of the Ambulance Corps of the 3rd Brigade of the Ist Division of the Ist Army Corps and was sent to Savannah, Georgia, where his corps embarked on the transport "Panama" and landed at Matanzas, Cuba, February 15, 1899. Here Mr. Frank remained with the Army of Occupation as chief clerk to the chief surgeon of the district of Matanzas, in Cuba, and was sanitary inspec- tor of the City of Matanzas. After acquitting him- self creditably he returned to the United States in June, 1899, and was appointed hospital steward of the 28th United States Volunteer Infantry then being organized at Camp Mead, Pennsylvania. In November, 1899, he embarked for the Philippine Islands and landed in Manila in December of that year. Here he served under Gen- eral Wheaton in Southern Luzon, a military operation to break the power of General Aguinaldo. In May, 1900, Mr. Frank was transferred to duty with the 28th Infan- try Regiment in the Island of Mindanao, five hundred miles south of Manila. On January 1, 1901, he embarked on the transport "Thomas" with his regiment for the United States and landed in San Francisco, California. February 10, 1901. On May 1, 1901, he was mustered out of the service in this city, having served from April 27, 1898, to May, 1901, and he was the only member of the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment, who had served this entire time.
On returning to Wilkes-Barre from San Francisco, Mr. Frank engaged in the drug business, and has con- tinued in it to the present time, 1929. For years of this
time he was engaged in the partnership of Frank & Barber, who controlled seven drug stores in Luzerne County. In 1920 Mr. Frank closed his connections with the retail drug stores and organized the Pennsylvania Wholesale Drug Company, of Wilkes-Barre, of which he became president. This is now the largest wholesale drug house in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and stands as a monument to the business judgment, integrity and foresight of Mr. Frank.
Mr. Frank's interest in local affairs is evidenced by the fact that he served twelve years as a member of the school board, and was elevated to the presidency thereof in 1919 and again in 1928. For ten of the twelve years of his service on the Board of Education he has been a member of the finance committee, and during that time a remarkably successful financial policy has been worked out for the Wilkes-Barre school district. This policy has not only placed the district in the strong- est financial position of any school district of its class in the State, but it has held the school bonded indebted- ness at the lowest level in the State. This accomplish- ment, in which Mr. Frank has borne a full share, is the. more notable when it is considered that school buildings to the value of almost $4,000,000 have been erected and added to the school equipment of the district, all of which has been accomplished without bonding the school district.
Mr. Frank is a leading member of the Kiwanis Club, and its vice-president, director of the Chamber of Com- merce and a member of the Advisory Board of the Wyoming Valley Women's Club, and Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 109, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the board of directors of the Wyoming Valley Recreation and Playground Association and for ten years he has been president of the East Market Street Business Men's Association, and is a direc- .. r of the Liberty Market. He was the originator of tl:e boulevard system of street lighting which is now successfully in use throughout the city. For three years he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association. In poli- tics he is an Independent and is first vice-president ot the Fair Taxation and Assessment League of Pennsyl- vania. He is intensely interested in historical subjects, and works along these lines as a member of the Wyom- ing Valley Historical and Geological Association and the Pennsylvania Historical Society. He has greatly sup- plemented his education by reading and observation, is the author of a thesis on the Declaration of Indepen- dence and a chapter on the history of Wyoming, and also a history of Wyoming Valley for use in the public schools.
Mr. Frank married, June 21, 1911, Guitell L. Harris, daughter of the late Albert Harris, pioneer Jewish resi- dent of Scranton, and Rosalie (Brown) Harris, and they are the parents of a daughter, Rosalie Brown Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Frank and family reside at No. 313 South River Street, Wilkes-Barre.
ROY TRUCKENMILLER, M. D .- In Freeland, Pennsylvania, no physician is better known than is Dr. Roy Truckenmiller, who for a quarter of a century has been ministering to the needs of the sick and suffering in this locality. A graduate of the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, Dr. Truckenmiller came to Free- land immediately after his graduation and has continued here since, interrupting his ministry here only during the period of his service in the World War. He is now ( 1928) a major in the Medical Reserve Corps,
Dr. Roy Truckenmiller was born in Turbotville, Nor- thumberland County, Pennsylvania, in August, 1879, son of Augustus S., formerly a business man, now retired, and of Elizabeth ( Bobst) Truckenmiller, deceased ( 1928). After graduating from Catawissa High School with the class of 1897, he continued study in the Bloomsburg State Normal School, completing his course there with the class of 1898. For one year following his graduation he was engaged in teaching, and then he began preparation for his professional career by entering the Medico-Chirur- gical College, at Philadelphia, where he received his med- ical degree in 1003. In that same year he came to Free- land and opened his office for general practice. During the quarter of a century which has passed since that time, he has been continuously engaged in ministering to the needs of the people here, and for many years has been known as one of the faithful and skilled physicians of Luzerne County. He is a member of the Luzerne County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical Scciety, and the American Medical Association, and his professional associates know him as one of the progres-
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sive and growing men of his profession. Along with the wide experience he has gathered as a family phy- sician for all these years, he is one who believes in keeping well abreast of the times, thus giving to his patients the benefits of long practice and of the later discoveries of medical science as well. There are families in this district which have been calling upon him for med- ical advice, as needed, through all of the long period of his service here, and among his patients he has many life long friends. At the time of the entrance of the United States into the World War Dr. Truckenmiller enlisted for service, in August, 1917, as a member of the Medical Department, and was stationed at Camp Wheeler, in Georgia. In September, 1918, he was sent overseas, where he was stationed at Base Hospital, No. 31, at Keroun, and later as assistant to camp surgeon at Pon- tonezan, France. Returning to this country in July, 1919, he was mustered out of service in September, with the rank of captain, and he has since joined the Medical Reserve Corps, ranking now (1928) as major. Upon his return to civil life he resumed his practice here in Free- land, where he has since continued his work. He is a member of the American Legion, and fraternally, is identified with Lodge No. 1145, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks; and with Arbutus Lodge, No. 611, Free and Accepted Masons. His religious member- ship is with the Lutheran Church of Freeland.
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