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 VI > Part 82
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He was born in Stockton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1865, a son of Philip and Catherine (Adams) George, both natives of Germany, who came to this conn- try shortly after their marriage and settled in Stockton, where the elder George went to work in the coal mines. In his hours of recre- ation he indulged in music, being a musician of ability, and died early in life as a result of an accident in the mine in which he was at work.
Henry George was educated in the public schools, but at nine years of age was com- pelled to go to work in the coal breakers, in order to help support his mother. Until he was in his 'teens he worked at this trade, then became a carpenter's apprentice and at the same time took a course in business col- lege. Commercial life appealed to him and he undertook the agency for a sewing ma- chine manufacturing house, but in 1896 con- cluded that this was not his forte, and with
one hundred dollars in capital, set himself up in the grocery business. From that moment he never took a backward step. He catered to his early customers, who brought him others because of their satisfaction with his treatment, and treated all alike with fairness and justice. Prosperity came to him and his orders to the wholesalers finally filled entire freight cars in a single instance. Satisfied with sufficient for his wants, he decided to retire, and in 1919 disposed of his business. He is a director of the First National Bank of Freeland and has served as a member of the Borough Council for three terms totaling eleven years, having been president of the board one term, during which period many important improvements in the borough were accomplished. He is a member of the Pente- costal Church of Freeland, and is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, being treas- urer of Lodge No. 273. He also belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and has served his lodge for eight years as its treasurer.
Henry George married, January 9, 1888, Ellen Eberts, of Rockport, Carbon County, I'ennsylvania, daughter of Jacob and Harriet (Libey) Eberts. Their children are: 1. Ida, a graduate of Findlay, Ohio, Bible School and now a traveling missionary of the Pente- costal Church, for which she has labored in several states and is now in Kaya Haute, Volta, French West Africa. 2. Bertha May, married the Rev. J. Grayson Jones, pastor of Freeland Calvary Gospel Church, and they are the parents of Mirian Ilene and Henry Wilson Joncs. Mrs. Jones is a graduate of Blooms- burg State Normal School, and was a teacher for three years in the Freeland schools before her marriage.
WILLIAM R. SULMAN, M. D .- Establishing himself in practice immediately after his post-graduate hospital training, William R. Sulman, of Hazleton, is forging ahead in the medical profession and gives exceptional promise of rising to important heights. This district of Pennsylvania has been fortunate in acquiring a number of high grade med- ical graduates to add to the ranks of its older practitioners, among them being none of his years and experience who may be looked to for greater special achievement. He is alert, studious, ambitious and indus- trions, qualities that in any trade or pro- fession are valuable and which, in the exact- ing work of medicine and surgery are a price- less asset, of which he is bound to take advantage.
He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 12, 1899, a son of Benjamin and Flor- ence Sulman, and was educated in the pub- lic schools of that city, graduating from high school and then attending the University of Pennsylvania for three years. He then took the medical course at the University of Mary- land, in Baltimore, graduating therefrom with the class of 1925 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He became an interne in the hospital in York, Pennsylvania, and in 1926, came to Hazleton and established himself in practice. Dr. Sulman is surgeon for the Lehigh Coal Company, and medical examiner for the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the State and County medical associations, the Phi Alpha and Phi Delta Epsilon fraternities, and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Young Men's Hebrew Association.
William R. Sulman married Fannie Deitch, of Hazleton. They reside at No. 89 North Wyoming Street, Hazleton.
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Tanning Nawy
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SENATOR LANING HARVEY-The family of the surname Harvey of which Laning Harvey of Wilkes-Barre is a member, had its origin in England and was founded in this country by Thomas Harvey, who came with several relatives from Somersetshire and settled in New England in 1636, first in the colony of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and thence to Taunton, Massachusetts, where he died, in 1651. His wife was Elizabeth Andrews; and they had several children, of whom the youngest son, John, had a son John, who had a son Benjamin; and it was Benjamin Harvey, in 1772, who made a set- tlement in the town of Plymouth in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Harvey, son of John Harvey and his wife, Sarah, was born in Lyme, Connecti- cut, July 28, 1722, and died in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1795. He married (first), in 1745, Elizabeth Pelton, and after her death, about 1786, married (second) Cath- erine Draper, widow of Major Simeon Draper. Elisha Harvey, seventh child of Benjamin Harvey, by his first marriage, was born in Lyme, in 1758, and was fourteen years of age when he came with his parents to the Wyo- ming Valley. He served valorously in the Revolution, and was a soldier under Sullivan in the campaign of 1779 which resulted in the destruction of the Indian villages of the Genesee country. In December, 1780, he was captured by British Rangers and Indians, and taken to Montreal, and given into the custody of a Seneca chieftain. Next he was taken, by the chieftain, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a trapping and hunting party, and finally, in exchange for half a barrel of rum, was given over to a Scotch trader, in 1781. In the late summer of the year following he was ex- changed for one Adam Bowman, and returned to his home in Plymouth, replete enough of adventure. He married, in 1786, Rosanna Jameson, daughter of Robert and Agnes (Dixon) Jameson. Benjamin Harvey, their fourth child and second son, engaged in busi- ness as merchant and miller. He removed from Plymouth to Huntington Township in 1816, and his principal commercial enterprises were concerned with Huntington. For twenty years he was postmaster at Harveyville, a justice of the peace, and a captain of the militia. He married, in 1815, Sarah Nesbit, daughter of Abram and Bethiah (Wheeler) Nesbit. They had several children, among them Jameson Harvey, sixth child and third son, born in Plymouth Township near what is now West Nanticoke. He was a farmer, but in 1828 began operations in coal, and after 1863, when he turned over his mining interests to his sons, engaged in lumbering enterprises. In 1869 he came to Wilkes- Barre, where he died, in 1885, after a useful and prosperous career.
William Jameson Harvey, second child and first son of Jameson Harvey and his wife, Mary (Campbell) Harvey, was born in West Nanticoke, Luzerne County, May 13, 1838, and was educated in the Wyoming Institute in Wyoming, Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Professor Chase's Academy in Middletown, Connecticut, and the Edgehill School, in Princeton, New Jersey. He began in active business in 1859, foregoing plans for college, at the age of twenty-one years, as superin- tendent of his father's coal mining opera- tions in West Nanticoke. In 1861, at the out- break of the Civil War, he entered military service, acted first as recruiting officer and second as private in Company F of the 7th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserve Corps; on November 7 he was elected first
lieutenant of Company I, on November 20, was promoted to adjutant, and on November 25, 1862, resigned. It was his intention to re- enlist, hut at the request of his father he resumed his responsibilities in the mining enterprises. With a brother, Henry Harri- son Harvey, he continued in charge of the West Nanticoke interests until they were sold, in 1871, then gave his principal direc- tion to the lumber business, which had been incorporated with that of coal until the latter was sold. In 1886 he sold the lumber concern. Mr. Harvey was a director of the First National Bank of Plymouth, 1865-66; in 1870, with two associates, he secured con- trol of the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston Street Railway, which in 1892 became a valuable unit of the Wilkes-Barre & Wyoming Valley Traction Company. He was up to the time of his death a director of this company, and held considerable control in like interests in other cities. In 1874 he was independent can- didate for the office of mayor of Wilkes- Barre, in 1875 was elected school director and was for five years president of the board, in 1885 was elected to the City Council and was for eight years or two terms its presi- dent, and in 1892 was Presidential Elector, serving in similar capacity in the National Republican Convention of 1901. He was a director of the Miners Savings Bank, presi- dent of the Wyoming Valley Lace Mills, president of the Wilkes-Barre Grand Opera House Company, and fraternally was affili- ated with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Free and Accepted Masons. He was the oldest living Past Eminent Commander of Dieu le Veut Commandery, No. 45, Knights Templar; also a thirty-second degree Mason, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, a mem- ber of lrem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Westmoreland Club, Union League Club of Philadelphia. He married (first), December 9, 1869, Jessie Wright, born in 1848, died in 1877. He married (second), October 21, 1880, Amanda Mary Laning, daughter of Augustus C. and Amanda (Christel) Laning, she having been the widow of Rodman Merritt. There were, by the first marriage, children: 1. Wil- liam Jameson, born in 1870, died in 1871. 2. Robert Rieman, born in 1871, graduate of Lehigh University, degree in Electrical Engi- neering, superintendent of the Wyoming Valley Lace Mills. 3. Edward Darling, born in 1873, died in 1878. 4. Emily Cyst, born in 1877, died the same year, thirteen days before the death of her mother and three days after her birth. By the second marriage, there was a son, Laning, of whom further.
Laning Harvey was born in Wilkes-Barre, February 17, 1882; he received his prepara- tory education in the public schools and the academy of Wilkes-Barre, his native city, also at the Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsyl- vania. He entered the business world under the able guidance of his father, and as a man of commerce and general affairs has become one of the best known figures in the city and in Luzerne County. He has strong business connections; is a director in the Miners Savings Bank of Wilkes-Barre and owns large holdings in real estate and build- ing development. Mr. Harvey is founder and vice-president of the Henry German Com- pany, bakers of Luxury Bread, of Wilkes- Barre. He is president of the Wilkes-Barre Baseball Club of the New York-Pennsyl- vania League; a director of the Wilkes- Barre Institute for the Blind, a director of
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the United Charities, and a director of the Wilkes-Barre Playground Association. Under Governors John S. Steward and John K. Tener, over a period of twelve years, Mr. Harvey served as member of the Pennsyl- vania State Game Commission; under Gov- ernor Brumbough, as member of the State Board of Public Charities, and for four years, in Wilkes-Barre, as member of the City Council, represented the Seventh Ward. Like his father before him Mr. Harvey was one time candidate for the office of mayor in 1923. A Republican, he is loyal to and has con- stantly and consistently been staunch in sup- port of the principles of the party; and in matters political in the city and county he is possessed of a considerable influence, which he exercises without fanfare, always to the best interests of the greatest number of per- sons. For more than a score of years he has been a member of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and in this connection as in others has been identified with all pro- gressive movements for the betterment of the community.
Fraternally and socially Mr. Harvey has entrée in a wide assortment of organizations and circles. He is a member of Landmark Lodge, No. 442, of the Free and Accepted Masons, Keystone Consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Scranton, Pennsyl- vania, thirty-second degree, Irem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 109, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the United Sportsmen's Association of Pennsyl- vania. He is furthermore a member of the Press Club, the Kiwanis Club, of Wilkes- Barre, the Irem Temple Country Club, the Wyoming Valley Motor Club, the Wyoming Valley Country Club, the Franklin Club and Westmoreland Club, the Union League of Philadelphia, and the Loyal Legion. Mr. Har- vey is a communicant of St. Stephen's Epis- copal Church, Wilkes-Barre, is devout in its service, and most generous in donations to charity, regardless of whether or not the appeals are sponsored by his own denomina- tion. During the World War Mr. Harvey served with the Red Cross in the Regular Army and was stationed at Camp Green, North Carolina, for one year, after which he was promoted and transferred to Wash- ington, District of Columbia, where he was made director of Camp Service of the Red Cross, and had charge of all work in the camps of the United States, and also had charge of all Red Cross work in the various army hospitals of the United States Army. Mr. Harvey was also liaison officer to the Surgeon General office, at Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia. Laning Harvey was elected to the State Senate on November 6 1928, to represent the Twenty-first Senatorial District, from a normally Democratic terri- tory, the Democratic candidate for President, Alfred E. Smith, carrying this district by 10,000, Mr. Harvey carrying the same district by about 3,500. He was indorsed by the labor interests, the Prohibition and the Non-Parti- san League. Endowed in large measure with those qualities which tend to make a man warm in the affections of his fellows, Mr. Harvey is accordingly endowed with numer- ons firm friends. Temperate, kindly, firm in his opinions yet ever ready to alter them in the face of new evidence, just in his deal- ings, honorable always, it is said of him by those who know him well that he is a valu- able asset to community, State and nation, as a citizen, and that he is worthy indeed of his ancestry.
On November 15, 1905, Mr. Harvey was united in marriage with Marion Elizabeth Burgess, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Arthur Burgess. To this union have been born children: Laning, Jr., and Robert B. Harvey. The family resides in an imposing dwelling at No. 75 Riverside Drive, Wilkes-Barre.
CHARLES E. CUNNINGHAM-Specializing in weather strips and rustless window and door screens, a business occupation which he has followed for twenty years in Wilkes- Barre, Charles E. Cunningham is one of the leading business men of the city. His family ancestry mingles the blood of pioneer Penn- sylvanians and Virginians, while in that of his son flows an additional quantity of Revo- lutionary strain, the Peyton family landing in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1620, and active in all early American conflicts, and his mother having been a member of the McHenry fam- ily, in honor of whom Fort McHenry, Mary- land, was named, and where Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star Spangled Banner."
Charles E. Cunningham was born in Indi- anapolis, Indiana, September 14, 1875. His father was William F., and his mother, Lida Rebecca (Musser) Cunningham, of Lancaster County. She was a relative of the late Dr. Musser, of Lancaster, member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of Pennsylvania, while her husband was a son of William Cunningham, a native of Stanton, Virginia, and America (Peyton) Cunningham, of Westmoreland County, Virginia, both members of distinguished families of the Old Dominion. Mr. and Mrs. William F. Cun- ningham were the parents of four children: Charles E .; Grace America, wife of J. E. Miller, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Maude Elsie, wife of Bernard R. Batty, coal merchant of Indianapolis, Indiana, and William Peyton, who died of the "flu" while on his return trip from Europe at the close of the World War.
Charles E. Cunningham was educated in the public schools of Indianapolis, after which he took an engineering course at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. He then came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, asso- ciating himself with C. H. Bradley, Jr., of Oil City, as a boiler salesman. In 1903 he came to Wilkes-Barre, and took a position in the same line with E. Keeler and Company, of Williamsport, selling boilers throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. Later, he be- came general agent at Wilkes-Barre for the Chamberlin Weather Strip Company, and for the Kane Rustless Screen Company, and radi- ator furniture, which business he has since followed. He is also distributor for Aeropel ventilating fans. He is a Republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church, and holds membership in Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons, also in the local Royal Arch Masons, and in Dieu le Veut Commandery, No. 45, Knights Templar. He is also affiliated with Irem Temple, of Wilkes- Barre, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the Irem Temple Country Club, and of the Kiwanis Cluh.
Mr. Cunningham married, June 1, 1904, Zora Hughes, daughter of H. H. and Alice (Mc- Henry) Hughes, of Dauphin County. They have one son, William Peyton Cunningham, Yale University, class of 1928.
WILLIAM R. DYKINS, D. D. S .- In the prac- tice of dental surgery, Dr. William R. Dykins is making a favorable impression upon the people of Glen Lyon and vicinity, to whom he has ministered ever since he left the uni-
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versity. His services are highly valued as added floral stock to his other commodities those of a surgeon with an unusually fine training which supplements a technical abil- ity out of the ordinary. He belongs to the younger group of professional men who have come on the stage of action in recent years, and are rapidly taking front rank in their respective departments of service.
William R. Dykins was born in Nanticoke, January 10, 1904, the son of William J. and Emily (Powell) Dykins, his father born in England, in 1873, is a stationary engineer, his mother also born in England in 1876. Having passed through the grade and high schools of his native village, graduating from the latter in the class of 1921, he entered the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed his studies of the dental profession and from which he was graduated in the class of 1925 with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery.
From Pittsburgh, Dr. Dykins came at once to Glen Lyon, where he opened an office for the reception of patients. Knowledge of his skill and careful attention to the require- ments of those who sought his services soon began to give him a reputation which re- sulted in steady increase in the volume of his practice. He overcame the handicap, pre- sented to some minds, of his comparative youthfulness, and soon demonstrated to the satisfaction of his patrons that, profession- ally, he was older than his years. Today he holds the confidence and enjoys the esteem of a great number of the Glen Lyon inhabitants, who are appreciative of the privilege of hav- ing a dental surgeon of Dr. Dykins' ability settled in their midst. His practice, while nominally general, can be applied on occa- sions to special work. Undoubtedly, all things considered in the equation, he has a large and promising future.
Dr. Dykins has another endowment, which he might have employed as a chief endeavor of life, had he so elected. He is a musician of unusual excellence, and performed profes- sionally for a number of years. Now and again, he delights the family circle and groups of friends by his artistry, and his instrumen- tation is second only to his technical ability in his dental office. The Republican party has his undivided support, and he is affiliated with Nanticoke Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to the Craftsman's Club.
Dr. William R. Dykins married, in Novem- ber, 1925, Mildred McLon, of Pittsburgh, daughter of Mrs. Josephine Melon, and they have their residence in Glen Lyon.
E. HOWARD SMITH, ROBERT A. SMITH- The largest wholesale and retail floral busi- ness in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, is the one owned by the Smith Floral Company, located at No. 30 East Broad Street. The business was founded by E. Howard Smith, but since the retirement of the founder in 1927 has been taken over by Robert A. Smith, son of the founder, and M. G. Shields, a son-in-law. Robert A. Smith was "brought up" in the business and became a partner in the concern in 1924, after which time he practically had full control. Though a young man of twenty- eight years, he is an expert in his special line of business, which now (1930) consists in the retail and wholesale handling of all kinds of floral stock, which is purchased from the growers.
E. Howard Smith, founder of the business, was born in East Mauch Chunk, Pennsyl- vania, in 1868, and as a young man was en- gaged in the confectionery and farm produce business in Hazleton. As time passed he
of trade and, becoming interested In this phase of his business, began the growing of plants and shrubs on his farm. Being a man of more than average ability he achieved substantial success. When he established the business in 1896 he had his stand on West Broad Street in Hazleton and his greenhouses in the valley outside the city limits, where he raised stock under glass and in the open, raising a large amount of ornamental stock. About 1914 he engaged in the real estate business in Philadelphia, while still continu- ing his well established floral business, and of this venture, too, he made a decided suc- cess, His son, Robert A. Smith, had been his assistant for some time, and when, in 1924, the son was made a partner in the business, he was given virtual control, while the founder continued to devote his attention to his real estate and other interests, though still nominally at the head of the floral husi- ness also. In 1927 E. Howard Smith retired, and since that time he has divided his time and his interest between Lake Harmony in the Poconoes, where he spends his summers, and Miami, Florida, where he spends his winters. During his active years he was inter- ested in local public affairs in Hazleton, serv- ing as a member of the council, and aiding in all projects planned for the advancement of the best interests of Hazleton.
Mr. Smith married Sally A. Andreas, of West Hazleton, and they became the parents of seven children: Emory, who is employed as a salesman; May, a Red Cross nurse, who n arried K. S. Reynolds, of Forty Fort, Penn- sylvania; Jean, wife of M. G. Shields, who is associated with Robert A. Smith in the Smith Floral Company; Miriam, wife of John J. Miles, of the Miles Flower Shop, in Frack- ville, Pennsylvania; Howard, who resides in Miami, Florida; Robert A., of further men- tion; and Dorothy, wife of Charles Sweeney, of Hazleton, who is employed as a salesman of auto parts.
Robert A. Smith, son of E. Howard and Sally A. (Andreas) Smith, was born April 29, 1902, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and re- ceived his education in the public schools of this place. From boyhood he was made famil- iar with the floral business and was trained as his father's assistant in that line of activ- ity. In 1924 he was admitted to partnership and from that time on was given practical control of the business. Upon the retirement of his father in 1927, he and M. G. Shields, his brother-in-law, took over the business under the name of the Smith Floral Company, and the young men are continuing the success which the founder achieved. They have ceased to grow stock and now limit their operations to the wholesale and retail han- dling of all kinds of floral stoek, buying from the growers. They have a very extensive trade and the company has long enjoyed the advantages of a reputation which is in itself a valuable business asset. Robert A. Smith devotes his whole attention to the business and is proving to be a worthy successor of his able father. He is a member of the local, State, and national florists' associations, and fraternally, is identified with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, No. 193, of which his father is a member; and with Lodge No. 200, Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian Church,
Robert A. Smith is married to Mary Lev- kulic, of Hazleton, and they have one son, Robert A., Jr. Their home is at No. 54 South Laurel Street, in Hazleton.
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