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 80
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William E. Dow, son of John C. and Irene ( Kohler) Dow, was born in Demopolis, Alabama, December 31, 1883, and received his education in the public schools of his home town. When he was sixteen years of age he entered the employ of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, at Montgomery, Alabama, as a stenographer, but after a time he made a change and went to Hartford, Connecticut, where he acted as special agent for the same company. He was next transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, as general agent for the Nashville district in the employ of the same company. Here he remained for a period of four years, gaining valuable experience. At the end of that time he was again transferred, this time to Atlanta, Georgia, where for four years he served as general agent for the Atlanta district. In 1919 he became
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general agent for the Wilkes-Barre district, in the em- ploy of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany, and that important position he has continued to fill to the present time. Mr. Dow is one of the very well known insurance men of this section of the State. For the past three years he has served as president of the Agents' Association of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, having been elected in 1925, 1926, and 1927. Throughout the Wyoming Valley he is known as an expert, both as an agent and as an admin- istrator in this business and in this district he has given to his firm service of a high order. Politically, Mr. Dow is one of the many who class themselves as Independents. He regards personal fitness for office as of more im- portance than party affiliations and casts his vote . ac- cordingly. Fraternally, he is identified with Gate City Lodge, No. 2, Free and Accepted Masons, of Atlanta, Georgia, and is a member of all the Scottish Rite bodies ; also of Atlanta Consistory, in which he holds the thirty- second degree; and of Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a mem- ber of the Irem Temple Country Club, and of the Wyo- ming Valley Country Club. His religious affiliation is with St. Stephen's Episcopal Church of Wilkes-Barre. William E. Dow was married, June 5, 1915, to Eulalia Cox, of Savannah, Georgia, daughter of Charles T. and Sarah ( Bardwell) Cox.
JOHN A. HUGO, M. D .- For more than eight years, ever since his return to civil life after eighteen months' active service in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy during the World War, Nanticoke has been the scene of Dr. Hugo's successful professional activities as a physician and surgeon. During these years he has not only built up a large and lucrative practice, but has also made for himself a prominent position in the life of the community.
Mr. Hugo was born at Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 28, 1887, a son of Conrad and Catharine (Yeager) Hugo. Both his parents were born and reared in Hazle- ton, where his father was connected for many years with the mining industry. Dr. Hugo received his preliminary education in the public schools and then took up the study of medicine at the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1915. After the usual period as an interne, which he spent at the Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia, he established himself in the general practice of medicine at Long Branch, New Jer- sey, where he continued to live and work until 1917. In that year he entered the Medical Corps of the United States Navy, with which he served for eighteen months, being stationed most of that time at Brest, France, where he was engaged in hospital work. Having received his honorable discharge in May, 1919, with the rank of senior lieutenant, in June of that year he located at Nanticoke. There he has carried on since a successful general prac- tice, with an office at No. 35 East Green Street.
He is a member of the medical staff of the Nanticoke Hospital and also of the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania State Medical Society and the Luzerne County Medical Society. Considered one of the substan- tial members of the community, he was elected some time ago to the board of directors of the Miners' Trust Com- pany of Nanticoke. He is a member of Hazel Lodge, No. 327, Free and Accepted Masons; Caldwell Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the thirty-second de- gree ; Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Hazleton Lodge, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks ; the Knights of Pythias : the Inde- pendent Americans ; the Franklin Club of Wilkes-Barre; the Sextette Club of Hazleton, and Phi Rho Sigma Fra- ternity. In politics he is a supporter of the Republican party, in the affairs of which he takes an active interest, while his religious affiliations are with the Lutheran Church.
Dr. Hugo married in 1026, Nori Maguire of Port Chester, New York, a daughter of Michael and Kathryn ( Shannon) Maguire. They make their home on East Green Street, Nanticoke.
HARRY SAMUEL NICHOLSON-One of the substantial business men of Wilkes-Barre and the mem- ber of a family that has been important in this section for many years. Harry Samuel Nicholson fills efficiently and creditably the position of manager of W. H. Nichol- son and Company, which manufactures steam specialities. This firm was established in 1886 by his grandfather, W. H. Nicholson, together with three sons, William, Samuel .T., and George Nicholson.
W. H. Nicholson, the founder of this company and the grandfather of Harry Samuel Nicholson, the present manager, was a native of England. A practical machinist of an inventive turn of mind, he came to the United States in 1866 with his family, and took out a patent on the Nicholson expanding mandrel, and subsequently took out additional patents. He and his three sons then started the W. H. Nicholson Company in Wilkes-Barre. W. H. Nicholson's wife was Elizabeth (Craig) Nicholson, and they were the parents of the following children : William, the father of Harry Samuel Nicholson; Annie, who married Frederick Beiswinger, now deceased; Mary, single, of Wilkes-Barre; Samuel T., who is president of the Vulcan Iron Works; Elizabeth, who married Samuel McDowell, a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Lee Park, Pennsylvania; George, who is vice-president of the Vulcan Iron Works; and Hannah, who married Arthur Rinchimer, now deceased.
William Nicholson, the father of Harry Samuel Nich- olson, was born in 1857 in England and died in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 1917. He was only nine years of age when his father brought the family to the United States from New Castle, England. He was a life-long Republican, and was a member of the West- minster Presbyterian Church, of Wilkes-Barre. He was the manager of the Nicholson Company at the time of his death. He married Emma Comstock, and they were the parents of six children: Laura, the wife of C. E. Tite, of Wilkes-Barre; Bertha, who married Hobart B. Meyer, of Wilkes-Barre; Harry Samuel, of further mention ; Frank C., who is electrical engineer for the Lehigh Valley Coal Company; William R., who is assistant manager of W. H. Nicholson and Company ; and Arthur E., who is district manager of the Pennsyl- vania Manufacturers' Association Casualty Insurance Company and secretary of the Luzerne County Manu- facturers' Association.
Harry Samuel Nicholson, the son of William and Emma (Comstock) Nicholson, was born in Exeter Township, Luzerne County, on December 2, 1885. He attended the public schools and the high school of Wilkes-Barre, and was graduated from the commercial department of the Wyoming Seminary, in Kingston, Pennsylvania, in the class of 1906. Then he took a posi- tion in the office of W. H. Nicholson and Company, where he has remained since that time. He has been manager and secretary of the company since 1917. In his political affiliations he is a Republican. and he is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which order he is affiliated with Lodge No. 61 ; Shekinah Chap- ter, No. 182, of the Royal Arch Masons; 'Dieu le Veut Commandery, No. 45, Knights Templar; Irem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Wilkes-Barre. He is a member of the Irem Country Club, chairman of the Irem Temple Gun Club, vice-president of the United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, and treasurer of the Conservation Council of Pennsyl- vania.
Mr. Nicholson married Anna Petty, of Wilkes-Barre, on June 8, 1910. She is a daughter of Dr. William and Celestia (Berger) Petty, of Berwick, Pennsylvania. Harry Samuel and Anna ( Petty) Nicholson are the parents of four children: Jean Marie, Robert Edgar, Harry Samuel, Jr., and Ruth Eleanor.
FRANK A. McGUIGAN-Every community posses- ses a law firm which, on account of its personnel and accomplishments, stands out prominently, and whose name is synonymous with stability, character, excellent service and progress ; when a firm is all of these, its age and established reputation may be taken for granted. Such a firm is that of Bedford, Jones, Waller & Mc- Guigan. which occupies a considerable part of the eighth floor of the Miners' Bank Building at Wilkes-Barre, and in which Frank A. McGuigan is a valued partner. The assets 'of this firm are embodied in the above character- istics, but one that does not appear on the surface but goes far to make up good will exists in the fact that I'nder the founders of the firm and its successors dozens of young men have been introduced to the law and tutored far enough along to make splendid successes for themselves. In the years he has been connected with the firm Mr. McGuigan has contributed materially to its accomplishments, and has built up a reputation on his own account that has given him an enviable position in the community.
Frank A. McGuigan was horn July 10, 1873, at Wilkes- Barre, son of Patrick and Ellen (Gallagher) McGuigan, deceased, who were natives of Ireland, and came to this
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country to find better opportunities than the Old World afforded. Patrick McGuigan was employed many years by the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Mining Company, and was a member of the Democratic party and of the Roman Catholic Church, St. Mary's having been his place of worship. He was the father of twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity: James P., of Brooklyn, New York, who died February 7, 1926; William, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Patrick, of Wilkes-Barre; Isabella, of Wilkes-Barre; Ella, of Wilkes-Barre, Penn- sylvania ; Frank A., of whom further ; Rose, of Wilkes- Barre; Joseph, in the Panama Canal Zone; Agnes, of Wilkes-Barre; Margaret and Mary, died in childhood.
Mr. McGuigan grew to manhood in Wilkes-Barre, and received his education in the public schools, the St. Mary's Parochial School, and the State Normal School at Bloomsburg, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1891. He then taught school for three years in Lehman Township, Luzerne County, and studied law concurrently, and was admitted to the Luzerne County Bar May 20, 1894, and his since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. He is a member of the Luzerne County Bar Association and the State Bar Association. In fraternal order work he is a member of the Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 109, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks; the Fraternal Order of Eagles; Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 302, Knights of Columbus, and fourth degree, the Ancient Order of Hibernians. His clubs include the Concordia, Alhambra Press, and Monockonock clubs. He is a director of the Union Savings Bank and Trust Company and personally and as a member of the firm attorney for a number of the largest corporations in this section.
Mr. McGuigan married Lulu M. Reilly, of Pittston, December 28, 1905, daughter of Patrick and Julia ( Mul- vaney ) Reilly, and four children have blessed their union : 1. Frank W., born June 28, 1909, a senior at Georgetown University, Washington, District of Column- bia. 2. Walter J., born August 26, 1910, a sophomore at Georgetown University. 3. George Francis, born March 5, 1912, a freshman at Georgetown University. 4. Rich- ard C. McGuigan, born February 7, 1915, a student at Wyoming Seminary.
MARTIN L. CONNORS, M. D .- Skilled as a sur- geon and well-known as a physician, Dr. Martin L. Con- nors of Pittston, Pennsylvania, is one of the medical fraternity who is a native of this city and who after completing his course in medicine returned to his home town and established himself in the profession where he has progressed steadily ever since.
Dr. Connors is the son of James Connors, who was a miner, and of Bridget (Golden) Connors. Both of these highly respected citizens are now deceased.
Martin L. Connors was born at Pittston, Pennsylvania, on October 24, 1841. He received his early education in this locality and then attended Temple University at Philadelphia. After completing his work at this univer- sity, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine and began his interneship at the Garretson General Hos- pital, where he remained for three years. He then went to Saint Vincent's Hospital at Erie, Pennsylvania, and after one year of practice in this hospital he returned to the native place of himself and his parents and here he has continued to reside.
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Dr. Connors began, very soon after his graduation in medicine, to specialize in surgery and he has continued to make this his forte. He is a member of the surgical staff of the Pittston Hospital, and is also a member of the County Medical Society; the State Medical Society, and American Medical Association. He is affiliated with a number of fraternal organizations and social clubs, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Columbus, and the Fox Hills Country Club .. Dr. Connors and his family are members of St. John's Roman Catholic Church, and Mrs. Connors is well known for her activities in the different charitable organizations and aid societies of that church.
On November 20, 1918, Martin L. Connors married Rita M. Rogers, daughter of Thomas and Frances Rogers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have had six chil- dren: 1. Frances Mary. 2. Rita Marie. 3. Natila, de- ceased. 4. Marie Therese. 5. Nan, deceased. 6. Martin. During the World War, Dr. Connors was in active serv- ice in the United States Medical Corps.
EDWIN LEAMAN LINDEMUTH-Ability in meeting the responsibilities of a position important to the welfare of the whole community and of a wide ter- ritory on every side has made Edwin L. Lindemuth one
of the most popular and most highly-esteemed citizens of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where for twenty-one years he has been manager of the claims department of the Wilkes-Barre Railway Corporation. From his office at No. 300 West Market Street, Kingston, he looks after resulting claims for personal injuries and property dam- age on one hundred and ten miles of railway and on a bus system controlling more than twenty busses in Luzerne County.
Edwin L. Lindemuth was born in Reading, Pennsyl- vania, January 22, 1869, son of John and Lavinia K. (Leaman) Lindemuth, father deceased. The parents be- longed to old Berks County families, and they had five children, of whom the subject of this record is the oldest and the only survivor. He grew to manhood in Reading, where he had acquired his education in the public and high schools. After filling the position of a clerk for a time, he studied shorthand, in which he became so expert that he was appointed court reporter for the district court of Berks County and remained thus engaged for ten years. His personality and ability becoming widely known won for him election to the office of city clerk
of Reading. After four years in the public post, Mr. Lindemuth was made claim agent for the United Power and Transportation Company, with offices in Philadelphia. His company then controlled the Wilkes-Barre and Wyo- mning Valley Traction Company, as well as other rail- ways in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. On February 8, 1906, came Mr. Lindemuth's transfer to Wilkes-Barre as claim agent for the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley Railway Company later merged with the Wilkes Barre Railway Corporation where he has remained for twenty-three years. Besides his large rail- way mileage, the claim agent also looks after the claims of the Wyoming Valley Bus Company, one of the im- portant concerns of Luzerne County. His work has al- ways given great satisfaction to the large public he serves.
In politics, Mr. Lindemuth is an independent Repub- lican. His religious affiliation is with the First Presby- terian Church of Wilkes-Barre. He is a member of the Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons ; Shekinah Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; the Council, Royal and Selected Masters; the Keystone Consistory .. No. 320, thirty-second degree; Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Wilkes- Barre; of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks .. Lodge No. 109, of which he is Past Exalted Ruler. His clubs are the Pen and Pencil, of Wilkes-Barre; and the Kiwanis. He belongs also to the Young Men's. Christian Association.
On November 10, 1891, Edwin L. Lindemuth married Elizabeth K. Van Reed, of Reading, Pennsylvania, daughter of Wellington and Catherine (Kessler) Van Reed. A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lindemuth, George Fix Lindemuth, a student in Wyoming Seminary.
CARL A. LEIGHTON-Few of the citizens of Wilkes-Barre are more active in civic, business, fraternal, church, club, and social work than is Carl A. Leighton, head of the firm of the C. A. Leighton Company, one of the leading real estate and insurance organizations of Wyoming Valley. Mr. Leighton is a past president of the Rotary Club ( 1927), president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Wilkes- Barre, president of the Wilkes-Barre Knights of Colum- bus Home Association, heading the organization at the- time the present home of the order was acquired, a director of the Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce, and is one of the active members of the famous Concordia Society, one of the best known male choruses in the country.
His father, J. Charles Leighton, son of David and Mary (Healey) Leighton, was born in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He married and settled in Wilkes-Barre and at the time of his death was foreman in the employ of the E. F. Ryman Lumber Company. He and his wife, Ella B. Leighton, became the parents of a family of children of whom four are now living; Carl A., of further mention; William J., who is in the life insurance business in Philadelphia; G. Murray, assistant manager for the C. A. Leighton Company of Wilkes- Barre; and Leslie L., an automobile salesman of Wilkes- Barre.
Carl A. Leighton was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- van'a, February 2, 1886, and received his early education in the public and parochial schools of the city, later con- tinning study in the Wharton Extension School of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was gradu- ated with the class of 1919. He was in the employ of the
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Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company for nineteen years, his final connection being as an assistant to the land agent. In 1922 he founded the C. A. Leighton Com- pany, and engaged in the real estate and insurance busi- ness in which line he has continued with increasing suc- cess. His office cares for a very large business. It han- dles all branches of real estate and insurance and does a large construction business. The subdivisions of his company and particularly Trucksville Gardens are well known for their completeness of development and general appeal.
Mr. Leighton is active in the Wyoming Valley Chapter of the Red Cross and has organized and now heads its Disaster Relief Committee. He is also a member of Council No. 302, Knights of Columbus, and the Wyoming Valley Country Club. Mr. Leighton has a fine baritone voice and has been heard in many of the concerts and singing festivals in the city. His religious affiliation is with St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.
Carl A. Leighton was married April 29, 1914, to Marie J. Forve, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Forve, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Leighton are the parents of six children: 1. Mary R. 2. Helen C. 3. Carl A., Jr. 4. Elizabeth M. 5. Peter Forve. 6. John Charles. Mrs. Leighton's father was one of Wilkes- Barre's prominent business men and took an active part in the development of this community. At the time of his death he was one of the Poor Directors of the Central District.
ROBERT AUGUSTUS QUIN-Filling one of the most important executive positions in the anthracite coal operations of Pennsylvania, Robert Augustus Quin, late vice-president of the Susquehanna Collieries Company, with headquarters at Wilkes-Barre, was a very great fac- tor in the commercial progress of the State and one of its most important citizens. For nearly fifty years he had been engaged in the coal industry embracing the entire anthracite coal field, and has risen, step by step, from a clerkship to positions of extreme executive in the indus- trial world with no other recommendation than his un- usual ability, loyalty and intense interest in his work. Informed to the minutest detail on every matter associ- ated with anthracite coal mining and the output of the product, he was also deeply interested in all civic affairs that tended to promote the progress of the community and Commonwealth and to such propositions as were ad- vanced in accordance with that idea he never failed to give his full support and to lend his personal aid where it might be of value. Cooperation with all allied interests was one of the strongest tenets of his business code, for he fully appreciated the fact that universal enterprise is best engaged when no unfair advantage is taken of a weaker factor in the field. He was strong in his friend- ships, faithful to trust, generous in his dealings, popular in his recreational periods and wholesome in all his activities, a splendid citizen of the State of Pennsylvania, whose untimely passing was a severe loss to its industrial field.
Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1864, he was a son of Augustus and Ann (Williams) Quin, and acquired his education in the local public schools. His business career began as an office boy with the Pottsville Iron & Steel Company, which association he entered in 1881 and remained for one year. He then accepted a position with the Lehigh Valley Coal Company at Lost Creek, doing engineering work near Shenandoah for four years, when he was engaged for a brief period as a civil engineer at Reading, after which he returned to Lost Creek and took a position as bookkeeper with J. C. Bright & Company. From 1887 to 1889 he was associated with the engineers who were making the second geologi- cal survey of Pennsylvania and from 1880 until 1898 was with the A. B. Cochran mining engineering and survey- ing firm. On January 1. 1898, he was appointed super- intendent of the Shipman Coal Company, at Shamokin, from which position he began his association with the Susquehanna Coal Company, when he was made superin- tendent of the William Penn Colliery, near Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, on April 1, 1899. In this last indicated posi- tion he remained until January 1, 1901, when he was transferred and put in charge of the Mineral Railroad & Mining Company, also a part of the Susquehanna system. In recognition of his outstanding abilities the Susque- hanna Coal Company, in 1903, appointed him manager of all the collieries of Susquehanna and Lytle Coal . companies with headquarters in the Miners' Bank Build- ing in Wilkes-Barre, including the period from July, 1917, when the M. A. Hanna Company interests took over the property and incorporated as the Susquehanna Collieries
Company. This position he held until August, 1928, when the latter company again promoted him, this time to be vice-president of all its holdings. He was a director of the Miners' Bank of Wilkes-Barre; the Miners' Trust Company of Nanticoke; the Nanticoke Construction Company ; the Susquehanna Lumber Company of Nanti- coke, and the South Side Lumber Company, of Wilkes- Barre. He held memberships in the American Mining Congress, the Engineers' Society of Northeastern Penn- sylvania and the American Institute of Mining and Metal- lurgical Engineers. His clubs were the Westmoreland and Franklin and the Wyoming Valley Country, and the Pennsylvania Society of New York while his fraternal affiliations included membership in the Masonic order. in which he belonged to all units, from the Blue Lodge, Shenandoah, to the Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, having the thirty-second degree; and Irem Country Club. He also belonged to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Pottsville Club of Pottsville, and to the Cresco Club of Shamokin, and Hazleton Country Club. His death occurred, following an accidental fall in front of his home, No. 122 West River Street, Wilkes-Barre, January 22, 1929.
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