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 74
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 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
THOMAS TURNER-Born in London, England, Thomas Turner, late of Alden Station, was a son of George and Bessie Turner, his father having been a miner. le came to the United States with his parents as a child, and spent the balance of his life in Luzerne County, where he was widely known. Following his attendance at classes in the Highland public schools, Mr.
Turner went to work in the mines, then at the age of seventeen years; and to the mines he gave the vigor and intelligence of a strong, high-minded man. For thirty- eight years he was assistant foreman for the Alden Coal Company, in charge of large responsibility.
While he retired from active work in mining, it is not true to say that Mr. Turner had relaxed in his interests ; for indeed, otherwise was the case. Always he interested himself in those movements of greatest concern to citi- zens of loyal public spirit, and at the time of his death in 1928, was serving a term of seven years as director of the poor, of the Central Poor District. For six years he served as school director, in the township of Newport, and gave of his services also as township commissioner. Mr. Turner assisted in the building of the first fire com- pany hose houses, and in the organization of the first fire company in the township. He was a stockholder in the National Bank of Nanticoke. Fraternally he was affiliated with Nanticoke Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Bloomsburg Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite; the Temple, Wilkes-Barre, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the oldest members and a Past Noble Grand. Mr. Turner was a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and had been super- intendent of the Sunday school for thirty-three years. Although too advanced in years for duty in the military during the period of American participation in the World War, he was of service to his country on boards and committees of war work, and in the several campaigns of the Liberty Loan, and War Stamps, took part with valued assistance. He died April 1, 1928, mourned and regretted by a host of friends. The late Mr. Turner was not a college man, having in his youth received but little schooling but he became a great reader, a self-taught man and a proficient public speaker.
In Eckley, Luzerne County, Mr. Turner was united in marriage with Sallie Lore, daughter of John and Annie (James) Lore. To this union were born children: 1. Anna M., born July 3, 1880. 2. George, born March 16, 1881. 3. Bessie, born April 29, 1884. 4. John L., (q. v.) born May 30, 1886. 5. Thomas W. (see preceding biog- taphy).
GEORGE ARIO SHUMAN, M. D .- As a skilled physician Dr. George Ario Shuman has for a little more than nine years been making himself known and respected in Edwardsville, Pennsylvania, to which place he came soon after receiving his discharge from service in the World War. He is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, and from the time of his grad- uation to the time of his coming to Edwardsville was serving as a member of the Medical Officers' Training Corps, in charge of medical work in the camps in this country.
Dr. George Ario Shuman was born in Catawissa, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1888. son of William K., who was born in Catawissa Township, Co- lumbia County, Pennsylvania, in 1849 and died in 1893, and of Emma J. (Hess) Shuman, who was born in Mifflinsville, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and died, in April, 1916. As the father was a farmer, Dr. Shuman was reared on a farm and attended the local schools, graduating from Catawissa High School with the class of 1905. He then began study in the Bloomsburg Normal School, where he took both the course for preparation for teaching and a medical preparatory course, graduat- ing with the classes of 1909 and 1910. For two years he was engaged in teaching in Catawissa Township and then for two more years he taught in the Catawissa Borough High School. During this time, however, he was attending the summer sessions of the University of Pennsylvania, seasons of 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913, and in the last-named year he began his medical course in Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia. In the spring of 1917, he graduated with the class of that year, receiv- ing his medical degree, but by this time the United States had entered the World War and Dr. Shuman became a member of the Medical Officers' Training Corps. He, however, served his interneship of one year in the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, but, received his commission September 20, 1917, and during the remainder of the period of the war was engaged in medical work in camps here in this country, beginning active duty in July, 1918, as a first lieutenant and receiving his discharge December 24, 1918, Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethope, Georgia. He served as acting corporal during training and before his commission. In February, 1919, he came to Edwardsville, and since that time has been successfully practicing here as a general physician. He
Thomas Turner Sr
--- --
1
Wig Morgan
A
M
-
-
303
is a member of the Luzerne County Medical Associa- tion, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association, and has made himself known throughout this section as a physician who is thoroughly skilled and who is also faithful in every way to the interests of his patients. In his political allegi- ance he is a Republican. He is a member of the Ameri- can Legion and of the Lutheran Church.
Dr. George Ario Shuman was married, in 1918, to Mary Edwards, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, daughter of James D. and Mary Edwards. Dr. and Mrs. Shuman have no children. Dr. Shuman has his offices at No. 587 Main Street, in Edwardsville.
IRA MANN-After spending the early part of his active life in the meat and grocery business, Ira Mann, who has ever displayed a deep interest in the civic affairs of the community, entered politics and rose to important positions by election of his fellow-citizens, being now the city clerk of Hazleton and also administering other offices of the district. Mr. Mann is gifted with an attrac- tive personality and possessed of a keen knowledge of the affairs with which he is associated. Meeting, in the course of his work, many men and women of importance, he has a manner that appeals strongly to the busy citizen, because of the methods used toward them in the per- formance of service. Gracious, tactful, alert and friendly, he makes friends readily and holds them firmly. There is nothing of the schemer about him, he is open to all, his life a book the pages of which may be read as clearly as the boldest type and on every one of which is written the record of an honest, upright, industrious life. He is held to be one of the worthiest citizens of the county and of the State of Pennsylvania.
He was born in St. John's Luzerne County, Pennsyl- vania, May 22, 1870, a son of Abraham and Fianna (Kuhns) Mann, both now deceased. His father was a native of Berks County and was engaged in the draying business. Ira Mann was educated in the public schools and graduated from the high school of Hazleton, after which he undertook to learn the butchering trade, which he followed for a number of years, then abandoning this for the grocery business, in which he was engaged for upward of twenty years. Upon attaining his majority he became interested in politics and joined the ranks of the Republican party, for which he worked hard and constantly. He did not confine his activities to local work, but entered the broader field of State and national civic matters. He dissociated himself from the grocery business and became a unit in the operations of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, continuing with that organization until 1918, when he was elected city elerk of Hazleton, which office he still fills. During 1907 and 1008 he served as councilman from the Ninth Ward of Hazleton and is at present Register of Vital Statistics for Hazleton and for Hazle and Butler townships. He is also secretary of the Board of Health and of the Police and Engineer- ing boards of the local civil service administration. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Patrio- tic Order Sons of America, the Royal Arcanum and the Hazleton Club. His church is the Emmanuel Reformed, of which he is a charter member.
Ira Mann married, November 22, 1890, Ella K. Bot- tiger, of Union County, Pennsylvania. Their children are: 1. Vera, deceased in 1918. 2. Ruth F., married Fred Brown, of Hazleton. 3. Alma C., married Dr. J. Howard Sharp, of Ocean City, New Jersey. 4. Blanche F., married George Kropp, of Weatherly, Pennsylvania. 5. Miriam G., a stenographer. 6. Laura E., a school teacher. 7. Eleanor C., a student nurse at Jefferson Medical College.
The family residence is at No. 625 North Church Street, Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM J. MORGAN-A native of Wales, Eng- land, but a resident of this country since 1014. Mr. Morgan, until 1925, was actively engaged in the ministry of the Baptist Church. With this work he also combined banking, first at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and since 1926 at Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, where he is treas- urer of the Peoples Savings & Trust Company. He still continues preaching and in the short time for which he has lived at Nanticoke he has established for himself a very fine reputation as an upright man, an able banker and a useful citizen.
William J. Morgan was born in Wales, May 18. 1885, a son of Philip J. and Mary (Johnes) Morgan. He was educated in the schools of his native country and at the University of Wales, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1910. In the meantime
he had also studied theology at the Bangor Baptist Col- lege, Bangor. Wales, and in 1910 he was ordained a minister of the Baptist Church. In the same year he commenced his active pastoral work as the minister of the Baptist Church in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, where he continued to serve with much success until 1914, when he came to the United States. There he located at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and for the next three years he had charge of the First Baptist Church of that town. In 1917 he accepted a call to the Baptist Church at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, serving as minister of this church until 1925. In the meanwhile he had been drafted for military service during the World War, in 1918, though he was not indueted into actual service. About the same time he had also become inter- ested in the banking business, having become cashier and a member of the board of directors of the Shelburne Falls National Bank, with which financial institution he continued to be connected until the latter part of 1925. Elected treasurer of the Peoples Savings & Trust Com- pany of Nanticoke, he removed to that town, January 15. 1926, and since then has held this position with much ability and efficiency and has made his home at Nanti- coke. Though the greater part of his time and attention is devoted to banking, he still preaches from time to time but, since coming to Nanticoke, has not held a regu- lar charge.
The Peoples Savings & Trust Company of Nanticoke, of which Mr. Morgan is treasurer, was founded De- cember 1, 1923. In 1924 its fine new and up-to-date bank- ing building was ereeted on Main Street, at Broadway, representing an investment of $128,000. It carries on a gencral banking business, including a savings and com- mercial department, trust service and safe deposit serv- ice. It is a member of the Federal Reserve System, and its business is carried on under the supervision of the Banking Department of the State of Pennsylvania and under that of the Federal Reserve Board of Washington. At the end of business on June 30, 1927, its total resources and liabilities balanced at $1,034,423. With a capital stock of $180,000, it had a surplus and undivided profits of more than $40,000, bills payable amounting to $75,000, deposits of $738,800. Besides its banking house the re- sources include $360,932 in loans and discounts, $457,263 in bonds and securities, and $87,793 in cash on hand and in banks. In addition to Mr. Morgan the officers of the bank include: William W. Smith, president; Dr. F. E. Davis, vice-president; F. W. Quoos, vice-president ; Howard B. Nash, assistant treasurer ; Fred W. Mundy, teller ; Henry Seijak, teller ; and Miss Mary, Moskwa, bookkeeper. The board of directors is made up of promi- nent citizens of Nanticoke and includes the following : William M. Crotzer, jeweler; John Dorak, Jr., merchant ; F. E. Davis, veterinary surgeon : William N. Edmunds, hardware merchant: F. 1). Hess, agent of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad; Andrew Lakatos, merchant: A. W. Olszewski, baker ; R. M. Pollock, farmer ; F. W. Quoos, contractor ; Richard Stefanski ; Dr. Z. L. Smith, physician ; William W. Smith, Jr., manager Lee & Seouton : F. R. Tubbs, undertaker; and F. A. Zerfoss, butcher. Though a comparatively young bank, the Peoples Savings & Trust Company has grown rapidly and is considered one of the substantial financial institutions of its locality. It has established for itself a fine reputation for the efficiency of its service and for the courtesy of its organi- zation, and much of its recent growth and prosperity are attributable to the work and ability of Mr. Morgan.
Though naturally his business and religious activities receive the major share of his time and attention, Mr. Morgan has found it possible to take an active and effective part in the civic and fraternal life of the com- munity. Every movement tending to advance the welfare and development of the town always finds him a ready and enthusiastic supporter. For a number of years he has been active in Masonic affairs and he is a member of Mountain Lodge of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, Free and Accepted Masons, and of several other bodies of this organization, including Bloomsburg Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the thirty-second Degree. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows at Shelburne Falls.
Mr. Morgan married, in February, 1915, Marguerite A. Davics. of Nanticoke, a daughter of Rev. Jacob E. and Anna Jane ( Williams) Davies. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are the parents of two children. Enid and Philip J. Morgan. Like her husband, Mrs. Morgan takes an active part in the life of the community and she is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and of several other organizations. The family residence is located at No. 250 State Street, Nanticoke.
304
JOHN R. DYSON, M. D .- For thirty years (1928) John R. Dyson has practiced the profession of medicine in Hazleton. He has built up a reputation for ability and integrity that cannot be challenged, and is accounted among the foremost of physicians and surgeons of Lu- zerne County. In Hazleton, aside from professional pur- suits, he has been most constructive as a force in public welfare, assisting greatly in all worthy movements designed for the benefit of the people and the municipal corporation.
Born May 6, 1874, at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Dr. Dyson is a son of John and Mary E. (Wilson) Dyson. He received his preparatory education in the Collegiate Institute, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, and entered the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, from which he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1897, at the age of twenty-three years. For a year, 1897-98, he served as interne in the Philadelphia General Hospital, Blockley, then came to Hazleton, 1898, where he has practiced through the years succeeding to the present time, with offices, now, at No. 22 North Church Street. His residence is at No. 309 West Diamond Avenue. Dr. Dyson's specialty is laryngology. He is a member of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania State and American medical associations. He is a director of the United Charities and the Young Men's Christian Association, being a director also of the Hazleton National Bank. He belongs to the American Red Cross and other organ- izations whose aims are similar, and to the Wyoming Valley Country Club, Valley County Club of Hazleton, and the First Presbyterian Church, in which he is a deacon. Fraternally, his affiliation is with the Free and Accepted Masons, Azalea Lodge, No. 6.
From August, 1917, until January, 1919, Dr. Dyson took part in the World War, serving in the Medical Department of the United States Army, with the rank of lieutenant, captain, and finally major. His duties were with the 31st Division, 116th Field Artillery, overseas, where he was stationed from November, 1918, until the time of his discharge.
Dr. Dyson married, in 1901, Mary Lauderbach, of Hazleton, daughter of William Lauderbach; and of. this union were born three children: 1. John M., who received his preparatory school training at Lawrenceville, graduated from Princeton University in 1925 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and is now a student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1929. 2. Helen, student at Wellesley College, class of 1928, and who prepared for college at the Bald- win School, Bryn Mawr. 3. William L., student in the public schools of Hazleton. Mrs. Dyson is a member of the Garden Club, other local societies, and is active in the Red Cross. She is vice-president of the Woman's Aid of the First Presbyterian Church, Hazleton.
EDWARD WELLES, SR .- Of the eighth generation of the Welles family in America and a direct descend- ant of the founder, Colonial Governor Thomas Welles, of Connecticut, Edward Welles, Sr., carried on with distinction the noble traditions to which he fell heir and lived in Wilkes-Barre a long and useful life of generous public service. Unostentatiously he gave of his sub- stance to worthy institutions of learning, to charitable enterprises, and to those of his friends and relatives who were not as blessed in this world's goods as was he. He was an able though quiet and unpretentious business man, and was deeply learned upon a variety of important subjects, his interests inclining particularly to literature. He was esteemed for his broad culture, the sincerity of his friendship and the sweetness of his disposition in his contacts with his fellows.
The youngest of nine children, Mr. Welles was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1832, the son of Charles Fisher and Ellen J. ( Hollenbeck) Welles. The American branch of the Welles family is descended from the Welles of Essex, England, who trace their ancestry to the year 794. Charles Fisher Welles was, in addition to giving his attention to his farm and busi- ness affairs, active politically. For six years he held office as prothonotary, clerk of courts, register and recorder of the then newly organized Bradford County, and became part owner of the Bradford "Gazette," power- ful anti-Federalist newspaper, in order to mould public opinion to his ideas.
His youngest son, Edward Welles, received his higher education at Lafayette and Williams colleges, leaving his work in the latter in 1851 in order to aid his brother, Jolin, in the administration of their mother's estate, work that occupied his attention until 1870. When General Robert E. Lee, at the head of the Confederate forces,
violated the land of Pennsylvania in his raid of 1863, Mr. Welles enlisted in the defense of his native State and served in the Union Army for three months. He came, in 1871, to make his residence in Wilkes-Barre, where his townspeople soon came to recognize him as a citizen of whom they could be proud and a man pos- sessed of the spirit of leadership in any worthy human welfare cause. He had varied and extensive interests. He became a director of the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre, but retired from the office in 1879. In 1884 he was made a director of the People's Bank, a position he occupied for a number of years. He was a manager of the Hollenback Cemetery Association and its secretary and treasurer from 1882 to 1896. He was also president of the Hollenback Coal Company. To Mr. Welles belongs the distinction of having built the first large office building erected in Wilkes-Barre, the Welles Building facing the public square, which was finished in 1888. He was a member and active worker in the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, which he served as trustee for many years, and he was a mem- ber of the board of trustees of Memorial Hall, the headquarters of Conyngham Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He was a communicant of the First Presby- terian Church.
During the last four years of his life Mr. Welles wrote a series of articles dealing with the quaint old characters in the village of his birth. He was contributor of a number of articles on historical subjects to the Pennsylvania German Magazine, in which he expressed his deep interest in the German immigrants of a former generation and their descendants.
Mr. Welles married, August 26, 1891, Stella Hol- lenback, daughter of George M. and Julia A. (Wood- worth) Hollenback, of Yorkville, Illinois. To this union was born a son, Edward Welles, Jr., who was graduated from Lafayette College with the class of 1916.
The death of Mr. Welles occurred at his Wilkes-Barre home March 8, 1914, his passing marking the loss of a citizen who had made a place for himself in the life of a community that will ever be the better for his hav- ing lived in it. Because it epitomizes so adequately the accomplishments and worth of Mr. Welles, the fol- lowing extract from a tribute written by one who was long a close associate with him is here reproduced :
He was not a man deeply engrossed in business; in fact, did not desire to be numbered with the captains of industry who flourished in his day. He, however, conducted his own affairs well, and although he made some mistakes of judgment, his investments were generally well selected. He was a man of highest principle, esteeming his honor and his promise sacred. He held to the old ideas in regard to property, bellev- ing it.should be held intact in the family that accumu- lated it. He was most charltable, giving away prob- ably one-tenth of his income each year, but doing it without ostentation and so quletly that few were aware of the magnitude of his benefactions. A num- ber of schools in the South and in the Far West received generous aid from him every year, as did many other institutions. .. . He possessed a keen sense of humor, and no one enjoyed a good joke more than he. He was not as ready at repartee and joke as some, but if he had a little time to prepare himself, could be very witty. But pathos came more readily than wit, and few there are who were present a few years ago at a banquet given Lafayette College Alumni who will soon forget the beauty and pathos of his speech in which he called the roll of his class, all of whom, save himself, had answered roll call in the spirit land. In his religious faith he held to the strict interpreta- tion of the orthodox faith of the Presbyterian Church, and he ordered his life in accordance therewith. Honor, uprightness and truth characterized his life, and no descendant of Governor Thomas Welles ever lived a purer, more blameless life.
WILLIAM W. BITTENBENDER-The firm of William W. Bittenbender & Company, of Nanticoke, on Broadway, manufacturers of drills for mining, was founded by Elias Bittenbender, about 1887. It was Elias who patented the first drill manufactured by his company, and who started it upon the way to prosperity. He was joined in its direction, later, by his eldest son, Frederick T. Bittenbender, in due time gave to him control of the organization, which he, Frederick T., retained until the time of his death, in 1895. At this period two other sons of Elias assumed control ; they were William W., whose name the company has borne for many years, and Eli G. Bittenbender. The company has continued to manufac- ture drills, and the product is sold in mining districts throughout the United States and Canada, though the greater portion of it is disposed of in the anthracite coal fields, in Pennsylvania. Five skilled mechanics are in con- stant employment. Through the careful direction of the brothers, and notably of William W. Bittenbender, the
305
Bittenbender drills have maintained a reputation unsur- passed in this particular line, and the prosperity of the company which followed soon after its foundation has not waned, but indeed has increased most satisfactorily to those interested.
Elias Bittenbender, organizer of the manufactory, was born in Nescopeck, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, there attended the public schools, and learned the trade of shoemaker. It happened after a time in this employ- ment that he came to Plymouth, in Luzerne County. Employed as engineer by the D. & H. Coal Company, he manifested a comprehensive understanding of machinery, pursued this bent, perfected a mine drill of superior qualities not theretofore available to the industry, secured a patent from Washington for its manufacture, and opened the plant in Nanticoke which has become Wil- liam W. Bittenbender & Company. Within a short while after foundation of the company, Elias Bittenbender retired from its active direction, as recounted. He did, however, continue his numerous general activities, and was known as one of the outstanding and public-spirited citizens of Plymouth. In Plymouth he was one of the earliest members of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons; he was, further, a member of the Royal Arch Masons. He was a communicant of the Christian Church, of Plymouth, devout in its service, and exemplary in his private conduct, temperate in manner, sincerely esteemed for his character by all persons who knew him. Elias Bittenbender was united in marriage with Elizabeth Frountz, and they were the parents of seven children : 1. Frederick T., first after his father to assume charge of the Bittenbender drill company ; died, as noted, in July, 1895. 2. George H., dealer in automo- biles, of Plymouth. 3. Charles M., engineer, with the D. & H. Coal Company. 4. William W., of whom further. 5. Eli G., associated with William W. in the mine drill manufacturing company. 6. Ella, wife of Thomas Drye, of Philadelphia. 7. Frank G., a decorator.
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.