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 76
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Dr. Hobart W. Dodson was born in Nanticoke, Penn- sylvania, October 26, 1896, and attended the public
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schools of his birthplace. In 1915 he was graduated from Dickinson Seminary, and in 1916-17 studied at Gettys- burg College. He then began professional study in Jeffer- son Medical College, at Philadelphia, where he completed his course with graduation in 1921, just thirty-three years after his father's graduation from the same institu- tion. After serving his interneship in the Germantown Hospital, Philadelphia, he began general medical prac- tice here in Nanticoke, taking the place of his father, whose death occurred in January, 1922. Dr. Dodson is a worthy successor of his much loved and highly respected father, and he is taking care of a large general practice. He has been surgeon of the Wyoming Division of the Susquehanna Colliers Company since 1923, and is a mem- ber of the Nanticoke State Hospital staff. He is also identified with the county, State, and National medical associations.
Dr. Dodson is a member of Olivet Lodge, No. 607, Free and Accepted Masons; of Keystone Consistory ; and of Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His fraternal affiliations include the A. T. O. National Fraternity and Phi Alpha Sigma. His clubs are the Craftsmen's Club and the Wyoming Valley Country Club, the Schaffer Anatomical Society, and his religious membership is with the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Dodson is one of the well-known and pro- gressive men of Nanticoke, and both professionally and as a citizen is one of the forces for betterment in the community.
DANIEL W. DODSON, M. D .- Among the highly esteemed professional men and greatly beloved physicians of Luzerne County, was the late Dr. Daniel W. Dodson, of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, where for nearly forty years he administered to the needs of the sick and built up a practice among a clientele of patients who had iu him the greatest confidence and who have felt his loss deeply.
Daniel W. Dodson was born at North Mountain, Lu- zerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1853. After his early school days were completed and he was prepared for higher education, he entered the Jefferson Medical Col- lege at Philadelphia for training in the profession of medicine. He graduated from that institution in the class of 1888, and immediately opened his office at Nan- ticoke, where he practiced medicine for thirty-four years and continued active until the time of his death. In his profession and as a citizen, he was always progressive and able in every undertaking. His public service in the nature of civic office was as coroner for Luzerne County which position he held for seven years, and as a member of the local school board where he held a place for six- teen years. He was also interested in the business wel- fare of the community and was on the board of directors of the First National Bank of Nanticoke. As a profes- sional man, he was identified with the Luzerne County Medical Association and with the Pennsylvania State Medical Association. In his fraternal affiliation, he was a member of the Nanticoke Lodge, No. 541, Free and Accepted Masons.
Dr. Daniel W. Dodson married Anna Vincent. They were the parents of one child, Hobart W. Dodson, M. D. (q. v.), who is one of the prominent young physicians of this community. Dr. Daniel W. Dodson died January 14, 1922.
GEORGE P. LINDSAY, organizer of the Plymouth Red Ash Coal Company and one of its officers since its organization, is one among the older business men of this section and is one of Plymouth's most highly esteemed citizens. He is the son of Andrew and Janet (Mac- Farlane) Lindsay. Both of his parents were born in Scotland and are now deceased. His father, who was a miner, was born in 1825 and lived until 1857; his mother was born in 1827 and died in 1918.
George P. Lindsay was born at Plains Township, Lu- zerne County. Pennsylvania, September 25, 1855. He was educated in the public schools of Plymouth and at Wyoming Seminary. After he was ready for work, he took a position as clerk in the general store of E. C. Wadhams and H. H. Ashley and Company until he was twenty years of age and at that time he was sent to Wanamie and put in charge of a store belonging to the Il. H. Ashley and Company. He remained in Wanamie for seven years and then returned to Plymouth. This was in 1884 and at that time Mr. Lindsay became con- nected with the Parrish Coal Company in the capacity of secretary and remained there until 1913, a period of twenty-nine years. During this time, he thoroughly
learned the coal business and in 1913, organized the Red Ash Coal Company where he is now one of the executives, holding the position of secretary and general manager. Mr. Lindsay is a Republican in his poitics and for ten years he was a school director, nine years of this term in the position of president of the board of school direc- tors. He is a member of Lodge No. 867, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Wanamie, of which he is Past Grand; Lodge No. 540, Free and Accepted Masons of Nanticoke, and in 1884 was Master of that lodge, which makes him the oldest living Past Master of the Nanticoke Lodge. He is a member of the Valley Chap- ter, No. 214, Royal Arch Masons; the Wilkes-Barre Commandery, Knights Templar; and Irem Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a past officer in the Chapter and for the past twenty years he has been treasurer of the Chapter. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and since 1874, he has been a member of the official board of that organization. At present (1928) he is president of the board of trustees and treasurer of the Sunday school.
In 1888, George P. Lindsay married Annie P. Jones, daughter of David and Jane Jones, of Danville, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay have two children: I. Janet, now the wife of James C. Langdon of Long Island City, New York. They have two children, George Lind- say Langdon and Elizabeth Cordis Langdon. 2. Marjorie Pritchard, now the wife of A. Harden Coon, of King- ston.
JAMES R. BEAVER, M. D .- One of the best known physicians and surgeons of Pittston is Dr. James. R. Beaver, whose offices are located at No. 100 Luzerne Avenue. Dr. Beaver has been engaged in general prac- tice here for the past sixteen years and is a member and chief surgeon of the Pittston Hospital staff. He is also a director of the West Side Bank, and is prominent in the Masonic Order.
Dr. James R. Beaver was born in Millerstown, Penn- sylvania, March 17, 1888, son of William A. and Emma (Troutman) Beaver. He received his early and pre- paratory education in Tuscarora Academy and then began professional study in the Medico-Chirurgical College, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he completed his course with graduation in the class of 1911. He served his interneship at Mercy Hospital, at Wilkes-Barre, remain- ing there for one year, and then, in July, 1912, located in West Pittston, where he has since been engaged in general practice. He has built up a very successful following, and in addition to the care of his general practice has specialized in surgery. As chief surgeon of the Pittston Hospital staff, he is well known for his skill and for his faithful care of those whom he has in charge, and he has for several years now (1928) been known as one of the notably successful surgeons of this section of the county. He is a member of the Luzerne County Medical Society, of the Pennsylvania State Med- ical Society, and of the American Medical Association, and has won in a high degree the respect of his pro- fessional associates. As a member of the board of direc- tors of the West Side Bank he is taking part in the financial development of the city's interests, and he is well known in local Masonic circles, being a member of Valley Lodge, No. 499, Free and Accepted Masons ; also of the Roval Arch Masons; of Wyoming Valley Commandery, Knights Templar; and of Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is actively interested in civic affairs, and as president of the board of health is rendering efficient service to the community. For the past several years he has also served as medical inspector of the West Pittsfield public schools. He is a well liked member of the Kiwanis Club, and his religious affiliation is with the First Methodist Episcopal Church. As a professional man, as a citizen who is always ready to contribute a full share to the advancement of the general weal, and as a pleasant and desirable friend and associate, Dr. Beaver has long held the high regard of all with whom he has been in contact, and he has a host of personal friends here. Mrs. Beaver, too, is one of the very active and well-known women of the community, being identified with a large number of the local organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Ameri- can Legion Auxiliary, the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation Auxiliary, the Hospital Auxiliary, and the Crafts- men's Club Auxiliary. She is also a member of the Republican Women's Club, and is identified with nu- merous other helpful civic and philanthropic organizations, as well as with all of the women's organizations of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
DW. Dorsow
Serveres Cortona
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Dr. James R. Beaver was married, September 1. 1917, to Helen Kasper, daughter of Joseph W. and Minnie (Dodd) Kasper, of West Pittston, and they have two children : 1. Helen Mae. 2. Minnie Betty.
CHARLES HORTON-The life of Charles Horton is suited to serve as an inspiration to the young man who would progress in any chosen career; for Mr. Horton is one of the many who began his own career in the mines of Nanticoke, and he has become prominent and substantial as an operator in real estate and insurance, a member of the Nanticoke Board of Aldermen, and a most influential citizen of the community, respected sin- cerely by all who know him. Advancement for him was not rapid, but it was firmly founded, based on honesty, industry and intelligent direction, and was steady. The use to which he has put his position now attained is as admirable as are the means which he exercised in the long years of attaining.
Charles Horton was born in Bradford, England, in the month of July, 1866, a son of Richard and Jane (Moon) Horton. His father died in 1875, when Charles Horton was nine years of age, and five years thereafter, in 1880, he came to the United States, located in Nanti- coke, and we see him at the age of fourteen at work in the mines, employed in the humble capacity of door boy on No. 4 Slope of the Susquehanna Coal Company. During the next sixteen years his body grew and hard- ened, and his intelligence and skill together with the application with which he met his work advanced him to a miner of the first class. Then he quit the mines, and became an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, continuing with it for sixteen years, and be- came assistant superintendent. Then he opened an office under his own name, dealing in fire insurance and real estate, at No. 327 South Walnut Street, and in this office he has been in business through the years succeed- ing until the present time. Mr. Horton is local repre- sentative for six insurance companies, deals largely in real estate, and is owner of considerable property in Nanticoke. Although he has given the major portion of his time to business, he has not failed to participate in the civic and fraternal affairs of Nanticoke, and has for many years been outstanding as a member of the Re- publican party, to whose principles of government he is loyal, and in which, locally, his influence is strong. In 1925 he was elected alderman, from the Fifth Ward, and he served so well that in 1927 he was reelected without opposition. Mr. Horton was one of the organizers of the first fire department in Nanticoke, a charter member, and has maintained membership in it continuously. Frater- nally his affiliation is with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in that order he has been active since 1897. During the World War he was tireless and unsparing of self in the work of committees and boards in charge of the prosecution of the conflict from within this country, and in the several campaigns of the Liberty Loan was instrumental in securing subscriptions. He is a communicant of St. George's Episcopal Church, is de- vout in its service, exemplary in his private conduct, and generous in contributions to all worthy causes, notably to charity.
In 1889, at the age of twenty-three years, Mr. Horton was united in marriage with Charlotte Davis, and to this union were born children: 1. John, now deceased. 2. Lillian, deceased. 3. Ann, who served for two years in France as a nurse ; married George Narcona and is the mother of two children: Marjorie and Dorothy. 4. Jen- nie, who married Robert Stover and they reside in Aberdeen, Maryland, with their children: Charlotte and Robert. 5. Sarah. Mr. Morton married ( second ) Lillian Powell, who had been a teacher in the public schools of Nanticoke for eighteen years; and this union also has been blessed with children: Richard, and Dorcas. Mr. and Mrs. Horton reside on South Walnut Street, Nanti- coke.
DAVID M. ROSSER-In the fields of business, agri- culture and public service David M. Rosser has played an important part in the affairs of Luzerne County and the Wyoming Valley. His broad experience and organ- izational ability have made his services as a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Luzerne County particularly valuable ; and, after having served in this office from 1923 to 1927, so highly did the people of the county regard him and his achievements that thev elected him to succeed himself in one of the most vigorously contested and exciting elections ever held in this vicinity.
Mr. Rosser is a native of Great Britain, having been born in South Wales, May 6, 1871, son of Morgan D.
and Mary (Edwards) Rosser. His father was a miner of long experience, having been superintendent of the mines of the Kingston Coal Company for many years ; and he and his wife and family came to the United States to live when David M. Rosser was only three months old. Mrs. Rosser, the mother, died in 1890, and the father passed away in 1911, when he was sixty-nine years of age. Morgan D. and Mary (Edwards) Rosser had eleven children, of whom seven lived to maturity. These seven were: 1. Mary, of East Orange, New Jersey, 2. E. M., president of the Kingston Bank and Trust Company. 3. David M., of further mention herein. 4. Jane, now a teacher in East Orange, New Jersey. 5. Richard M., who operates the white clay mines at Sailors- burg, Pennsylvania. 6. Bessic, deceased. 7. Ceridwyn, now Mrs. Charles W. Edwards, of Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Of these, David M. Rosser, with whom we are chiefly concerned herein, spent his early life in Luzerne County. He attended the public schools in Kingston Township, now Edwardsville; and later studied at the Wyoming Seminary, of Kingston, from which he was graduated in the class of 1890. He then entered Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, from which he was graduated in the class of 1895 with the degree of Civil Engineer. Each summer of his college course he spent with his parents at Edwardsville, helping his father about the mines and putting into practice many of the technical theories of construction and engineering that he was learning at the university. Under the tutelage of his father he had worked about the mines from the time when he was eleven years old, and so it was that, academically and practically, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the engineering problems affecting them. Upon his gradua- tion from Cornell, he went to lowa, where he became official engineer for the towns of Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls, supervising the construction of public buildings, streets, sewers, utilities and improvements. After four years in Iowa, he returned, in 1899, to Kingston, where he entered the business world in the capacity of a gen- cral contractor, specializing in the construction of differ- ent engineering projects. In this business he continued until 1916, being concerned chiefly with street and high- way building and with bridge and sewer construction and development of coal mines in West Virginia and West- ern Pennsylvania; but in that year, feeling that this business was, though profitable, somewhat exacting in its requirements, he retired to farming, in which he has remained engaged since that time. His farm, situated near Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, was formerly the home of Nathaniel Beach, a member of the State's earliest leg- islature; and Mr. Rosser, putting into it the enthusiasm that has characterized all his other efforts in life, has made it one of the model farms of the county.
It was in 1920 that Mr. Rosser's career of important public service in this community began. He was appointed, in that year, county engineer for Luzerne County, in which capacity he served for four years, win- ning praises and esteem for his thorough devotion to his work and the abilities that he displayed in it. Then, in the November election of 1923, he was chosen to fill a vacancy on the Board of County Commissioners, a post which he has held with distinction ever since; and then, as a reward for performance in office, he was reelected in 1927 for another term of constructive work. To the Board of County Commissioners Mr. Rosser has brought the technical experience of the engineer, and so has aided materially in the sound building up of his community and county. It is doubtful if the county has ever had a better management of its affairs or a greater period of accomplishment than has come during his tenure. Such structures as the Fort Jenkins Bridge, the Market Street Bridge, the Shickshinny Bridge and the South Street Bridge have been completed while he has been in office ; while more than one hundred and seventy- five miles of hard surface road have been added to the county's highway network, so that the roads and boule- vards of the Wyoming Valley have now become one of the finest systems in all Pennsylvania. The East End Boulevard, the West Wyoming Road and the Hunlock's Creek Road are but a few of the fine highways that have been added to Luzerne County since he became a member of the board; and his administration promises to be con- tinuously conspicuous for its vast amount of road improvement and material benefits to community wel- fare.
Mr. Rosser has always been actively interested in the political affairs of his county and State, having been closely aligned with the Republican party. In the period about 1912 he was a staunch supporter of the Progres-
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sive party, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1912; after the split of the Republican party, he joined the Progressive forces, becom- ing county chairman of the newly formed party, and staunchly supporting Theodore Roosevelt. He continued the new party's head in Luzerne County for two years following the Presidential campaign of 1912. In addi- tion to his political interests, he is active in fraternal and social affairs, being a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Cornell Society of Engineers, the Rotary Club of Shickshinny, the Craftsmen's Club and the Shrine Country Club. In the Masonic Order he is affiliated with Kingston Lodge, No. 395; Shekinah Chapter, No. 182, of Royal Arch Masons ; the Dieu le Veut Command- ery, No. 45, of Knights Templar, the Keystone Consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and Irem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
David M. Rosser married, September 14, 1899, Mary Law Cranston, of Avoca, Luzerne County, daughter of Robert and Grace (Hastie) Cranston, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Rosser became the parents of four sons: I. Charles Morgan, who is a traveling salesman ; he married Carroll Woodworth, of Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. 2. Robert Cranston, who at the time of writing (1929) is a student in college. 3. Morgan D. 4. David M., Jr. The last two of these sons make their home at the Rosser family residence.
RAYMOND L. WADHAMS, M. D .--- The Wad- hams family have long been prominent in the affairs of the American Nation, and a worthy representative of it who is a lincal descendant of Governor William Brad- ford, of Massachusetts, and who is a graduate of Prince- ton University, is Dr. Raymond L. Wadhams, of Wilkes- Barre. Dr. Wadhams took his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, and as a result of his skill and personality he has built up a most gratifying practice, and in addition is a use- ful citizen in all movements tending to build up the city and section.
The family of Wadhams originated in Devonshire, England, and takes its name from the Manor of Wad- ham, "home by the ford," in Knowston Parish, near the incorporated town of South Molion. In his "Magna Britannica," Lyson explains : "The Manor of Wadham, at the time of the Domesday Survey, in 1086, belonged to an old Saxon by the name of Ulf, who had held it in demesne since the time of Edward the Confessor, 1042. It was not improbable that he, Ulf, might be the ances- tor of Wadham, of which this was the original residence. William de Wadham was a freeholder of this land in the time of King Edward I, 1272, and both East and West Wadham descended in his name and posterity until the death of Nicholas Wadham, founder of Wadham College, Oxford, in 1609, when it passed to his sister's families, and is still in possession of their descendants. Merrifield, in Somersetshire, came into possession of Sir John Wadham, Knight, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Stephen Popham, and was inherited by their son, Sir John Wadham, whose descendants were called "Wacham of Merrifield."
The principal places of residence of the Wadhams fam- ily in England were in Devon, Somerset and Dorset counties. The original paternal American ancestor, John Wadham, or Wadhams, as the name is now usually spelled, came to this country as early as 1650 from Somersetshire, England, and settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he died in 1676; his name appears on real estate transfer deeds of the town. The descent from him is through the following : his son, John Wadham, native of Wethersfield, born July 8, 1655, resided there all his life and died there; Noah Wadhams, son of the above, born August 10, 1695, at Wethersfield, lived succes- sively at Middletown and Goshen, and there died in 1783;" Rev. Noah Wadhams, son of the above, born at Middle- town, May 17, 1726, graduated in 1754 from the College of New Jersey ( Princeton University) with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, studied theology at Yale and grad- utated in 1758 with the degree of Master of Arts. His diploma from Princeton, signed by the president of the college, Rev. Aaron Burr, father of Aaron Burr, vice- president of the United States in 1801, is now a prized possession of Dr. Raymond L. Wadhams, his great-great- grandson. He married Elizabeth Ingersoll, of New Haven, and died at Plymouth. Pennsylvania, February 11, 1793; Calvin Wadhams, their son, married ( first) Esther Waller, of Connecticut, born June 10, 1768, died February 19, 1818; married ( second) Lucy Starr Lucas, born August 13, 1762, died September 21, 1840. and he died April 22, 1845; Samuel Wadhams, son of Calvin
and Esther (Waller) Wadhams, married April 7, 1824, Clorinda Starr Catlin, of New Marlboro, Massachusetts, died December 15, 1868, in the house where he was born, and his wife died at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1870; Calvin Wadhams, their son, was the father of Dr. Raymond L. Wadhams.
Calvin Wadhams, the third son of Samuel and Clorinda S. (Catlin) Wadhams, was born at Plymouth Decem- ber 14, 1833, and died at Harvey's Lake, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1883. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1854, just a century after his great-grandfather, Rev. Noah Wadhams. He studied law with Hon. L. D. Shoemaker, and was admitted to the bar April 6, 1857. He was a leading member of the Wyo- ming Historical and Geological Society from 1858 until his death, and served as recording secretary from 1862 to 1865, again in 1870-71, and was president in 1873. He was one of the incorporators and first managers of the Wilkes-Barre Hospital. He married October 8, 1861, Frances Delphine Lynde, and their children were Mary Catlin, Lynde Henderson, Frank Cleveland and Raymond Lynde Wadhams. The first three of these children died in childhood as the result of a scarlet fever scourge, and all within thirty days. A few years after this sor- row he and his wife erected a Memorial Presbyterian Church to their memory. The deed conveying the prop- erty thus set forth the object :
Whereas, Mary Catlin Wadhams, who was born July 20, 1862, and who died January 16, 1871; Lynde Henderson Wadhams, who was born April 8, 1864, died February 9, 1871; and Frank Cleveland Wadhams, who was born May 7, 1868, died January 14, 1871, were all children of Calvin Wadhams and Frances D. L. Wadhams, and were taken away by death in early life, leaving their parents at the time childless. And the said Calvin Wadhams and Frances D. L. Wadhams desiring to commemorate the brief lives of their chil- dren, and feeling accountable as parents not only for the influence exerted by their children while on earth, but for the perpetuation of good influences after they have gone to their reward, and anxicus to do some act as representing the good works which they hoped of and from their children had the latter attained mature years, have erected In the city of Wilkes-Barre a church for the worship of Almighty God, intended as a house of prayer for all people. And in connection therewith a congregation was gathered and a church organization duly effected February 24, 1874, the mem- bership numbering forty-two.
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