Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 163

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 2390

USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 163
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 163
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 163
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 163

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.On November 13, 1878, at Sterling, Wayne county, Mr. Gilpin was united in marriage by Rev. J. F. Warner, an M. E. minister, with Miss Lizzie H. Simons, who was born at Sterling, October I. 1856, a daughter of Lewis Simons, of Sterling town- ship, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. To this union have been born four children, their names and dates of birth being as follows: Blanche K., Octo- ber 6, 1880; Homer L., February 7, 1882; Ruth E., December 16, 1895 ; and Berton H., August 14, 1899. In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin are members, in good standing, of the M. E. Church, of which he is serving as trustee and Sunday-school superintend- ent. In politics he is active in the ranks of the Pro- hibition party, and faithfully served his township as assessor and auditor. Socially he is affiliated with the P. O. S. of A.

Mr. Gilpin is the owner of one of the finest farm properties in his township, and he is justly recog- nized as one of Wayne county's most successful, thrifty, up-to-date agriculturists, also holding emi- nent standing among the thorough business men. His elegantly furnished home presents the reflex of cultured minds, and he and his esteemed wife extend unstinted hospitality to a wide circle of acquaint- ances. A firm and enduring friend, it may also be said of Mr. Gilpin that he has never had a bitter or vindictive enemy, and that he enjoys the esteem and respect of all with whom he comes in contact goes without saying.

B. C. ROSS, a well-known farmer of Damas- cus township, Wayne county, is descended on both sides of the house from people who were prominent among the early settlers along the Delaware river in Pennsylvania and New York States, and comes from good New England Revolutionary stock, an- cestry of which he may well be proud. On the maternal side he traces his lineage through the Thomases, who were early settlers in Connecticut and located in Pennsylvania at the time when the Indians were still numerous enough in this region to be troublesome. His paternal grandfather, John Ross, was among the first to settle in Wayne county, and both the Rosses and Thomases were noted in their day as guides and scouts. John and Sophia Ross reared a family of eleven children, viz .: John (who was a soldier in the war of 1812), Elias, Amos, George, Bezaleel C., Polly, Betsy, Jane (Mrs. Kellam), Sarah (Mrs. Ennis), Lydia (Mrs. Lukins) and Julia (Mrs. Tyler).

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Bezaleel C. Ross was born in March, 1805, in Callicoon, N. Y., and was married in Damascus township to Clarissa Thomas, who was born in July, 1808, the daughter of Moses Thomas, and grand- daughter of Moses Thomas (2), an Indian scout, who was killed at the battle of Lackawaxen. Mr. Ross located for a time on the New York side of the river, but after his marriage settled in Damas- cus township, where he bought a farm and passed the remainder of his life. He died in 1854, and his wife survived him many years, passing away in 1887, on the old Thomas homestead, where she was born. They had a large family, of whom we give the following record: Moses, born in New York State, died in 1889. Chester H., born in Sullivan county, married Miss Sallie Dexter, of the same county, and they settled in Susquehanna county, Penn., where he died in 1885 ; he left four sons, who are engaged on the Delaware & Lackawanna rail- road. William V., born in Wayne county, resides at Callicoon, N. Y. ; he is unmarried. John R., born in May, 1841, in Damascus, died at the age of thirty- three years, unmarried ; when eighteen years old he enlisted in the 56th N. Y. V. I., and served until the battle of Fair Oaks, after which he was discharged for disability ; subsequently he recruited a company, of which he was elected first lieutenant, and they joined the 84th P. V. I., with which he served in all its engagements up to the battle of Gettysburg, when he was severely wounded in the hip and was car- ried off the field to hospital; after recovering he returned to his command, was promoted to the rank of captain of Company I, and continued in active service, receiving another wound, in the scalp; after his return home to Wayne county he was elect- ed sheriff, and held the office one year. Mary E. Ross, born in Wayne county, married Marvin Por- ter, of Michigan, who was formerly a merchant, and they have one son, Ross Porter ; they now reside in California. Bruce, born in Damascus, married Miss Sophie Tyler. of Hallstead, where they have their home, he being engaged as engineer on the Delaware & Lackawanna railroad ; Rebecca S., born in Damascus, became the wife of Archie D. O'Neil, of Sullivan county, and in October, 1897, while crossing the Neversink river in a carriage, was drowned at Dennis' ford with her daughter Clara.

B. C. Ross was born in 1837 in Damascus town- ship, and lived at home until after his father's death. since which time he has worked on his own account. When a young man he engaged with his uncle, C. Thomas, and he and his brothers finally bought the Thomas homestead in Damascus, our subject mak- ing his home thereon for a number of years. Later they added the Brush farm, and when they divided their holdings the latter property fell to the share of our subject, who has since resided there. This place lies along the Newburg turnpike, one mile from Tyler Hill. The residence and outbuildings are substantial and comfortable, and Mr. Ross has, by his energetic and persistent efforts, won a place for himself among the solid, well-to-do men of the

locality, one who has had a direct share in its prog- ress and improvement, and a citizen who would be a credit to any community. Like all the members of his family he occupies a position among the best and most influential people of the town, where he is re- garded as a representative Christian citizen, honest and generous in his dealings with all.

In September, 1879, Mr. Ross was married to Miss Lana Lassly, the daughter of Cornelius and Josephine Lassly, who were prominent residents of Damascus township. Three children have blessed this union-Marvin Porter, Chester H. and Laura M. Mrs. Ross and her family are members of the Baptist Church. Fraternally Mr. Ross is a Ma- son, belonging to Lodge No. 568, at Callicoon, N. Y. His political sympathies are with the Demo- cratic party, and he has held the office of school di- rector in his township.

RICHARD TEETER, whose death on Octo- ber 29, 1896, is still fresh in the minds of the people of Hawley, Wayne county, was a prominent resi- dent of that place for almost half a century, settling there when the town contained but three houses and establishing a business which became the largest and most important of its kind in Wayne county. He was a native of Northampton county, Penn., born August 6, 1827, in Klecknersville, and was the son of Adam and Elizabeth (Dreisbauck) Dieter, the former of whom was a cabinet maker and un- dertaker by trade.

Adam Dieter carried on cabinet making and undertaking in the town of Klecknersville until his death, which occurred in 1832, when he was a young man of thirty years, and there he was buried. He left two children-Hannah and Richard, the latter the subject proper of this sketch; the daughter, now deceased, married Jonathan Johnson, who died in 1894 at Nanticoke, Penn. Mrs. Dieter married, for her second husband, Charles Shupp, who at that time was engaged in farming and gristmilling at Nanticoke, Penn., whence they removed some time later to Monroe county, same State, and there passed the remainder of their lives. Four chil- dren blessed their union, viz .: Levy, who is de- ceased ; Sarah, who first married Reuben Kresge, and after his death became the wife of Thomas Antimos : Eliza, who married Jacob Kintz, a farmer, merchant and quarryman of Pittston, Penn .; and Silas, a real-estate man at Albany, Oregon. The mother passed away in 1887, at the advanced age of eighty-six years, and was laid to rest in the ceme- tery at Gilbert, Monroe Co., Penn. She was the daughter of Col. Dreisbauck, who served as an officer in the Revolutionary war, in which he lost a right limb.

Richard Teeter passed the first few years of his life at Klecknersville, and was reared to man- hood at Nanticoke and in Monroe county, where he received his schooling. When he entered school at Nanticoke the teacher misspelled his name, writ- ing it Teeter instead of Dieter, and he continued

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

to spell it that way all his life. When a young man he went west to Wisconsin and Missouri, where he remained five years, carrying on an undertaking business in St. Louis, during the great plague of black diphtheria, black smallpox and cholera which swept over that region. On his return to Pennsyl- vania he located in Mauch Chunk for two years, finally, in 1849, coming by horse and wagon to what is now known as Hawley, Wayne Co., Penn., where he purchased a lot, built a shop, and opened out the furniture and undertaking business which he conducted up to the time of his death. The site he purchased is now included in Sixteenth and Eight- eenth streets, Hawley, but at the time the settle- ment boasted of but three houses, as above stated, and gave little promise of becoming the thriving town it now is. Mr. Teeter had started out to serve a three-years' apprenticeship at Mauch Chunk, to learn upholstering, etc., but after two years of faithful work his employer assured him he was perfectly competent to do the work of a fin- ished tradesman, and he accordingly determined to commence business on his own account. From a modest beginning he increased his equipment again and again as the increase of trade demanded, and as he was thrifty and enterprising, attending closely to business, and keeping his stock up-to-date in every respect, he soon found himself at the head of a large and profitable concern and commanded the best patronage in his line in Wayne county. His busness associates had the utmost confidence in his integrity and straightforward methods, which they never had any reason to question, and he was highly thought of by all with whom he came in con- tact as a man worthy the respect and esteem of his fellow beings in all the relations of life.

Generous and open-hearted in disposition, Mr. Teeter was always ready, with the abundant means which he had accumulated, to assist the needy, and the deserving poor were never turned away from him empty-handed. He was never slow in giving his influence and substantial aid to any cause which he thought would promote the general welfare, and though his extensive commercial interests absorbed the greater part of his time, he took a public-spirited interest in local affairs, and was considered one of the valuable citizens of the county. He held several borough offices, but he never sought political pref- erence and took little active part in party affairs. His first vote was cast in Wisconsin for William H. Harrison, and he remained a Republican to the end of his days. In religious connection he was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Teeter's death was looked upon as a public loss, and he was mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaint- ances throughout Wayne county, where he was well- known. He was laid to rest in the cemetery at Hawley.

On December 14, 1850, at Lehighton, Penn., was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Teeter and Eliza A. Hagenbuch, who was born in that place April 4, 1830, and the young couple took up their

residence in Hawley, where he had settled the year previously. Six children were born to them, of whom the eldest, William, died in infancy. Ella E. is engaged with her brothers in carrying on the fur- niture and undertaking business, and has been bookkeeper for the house for twenty years. Charles L. is a stone mason and contractor of Scranton, Penn. ; he married Miss Lizzie Brader. William R. is a clerk in the employ of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. at Scranton; he married Miss Mamie Nettie Law. George S. resides with his mother and man- ages the business. Richard A. is a telegraph opera- tor at Hawley. The children have evidently inher- ited their father's business ability and enterprise, for they have continued the establishment with the same degree of success which attended his manage- ment, and carry the largest stock of furniture and undertaking goods in the county.

Mrs. Teeter's parents were Reuben and Sallie (Bowman) Hagenbuch, both of whom are now deceased, the father having passed away at the age of sixty-eight years, the mother in 1889 at the age of eighty-five; he died at Lehighton, she in Bow- manstown, Penn. They reared a large family, of whom we give the following record: Sarah, now deceased, married William Swank, who was a con- tractor and builder at Summit Hill, Penn. Eliza became the wife of Richard Teeter. Isabella was twice married, the second time to Louis Schultz; both are deceased. John is a merchant at Lehigh- ton. William enlisted for service in the Civil war, and was killed by a sharpshooter at the battle of Bull Run. Thomas was also killed while serving in the army. Rosa married Alfred Beers, foreman of furnaces at Parryville, Penn. James is a chem- ist at Parryville. During his active years Mr. Hagenbuch conducted a hotel, and accumulated con- siderable wealth, which enabled him to live in com- fortable retirement for many years before his death. Religiously he united with the Reformed Church.

GEORGE S. TEETER, manager of the Rich- ard Teeter Furniture & Undertaking Co., of Hawley, Wayne county, is ranked among the most able and enterprising young business men of this section, and is a worthy representative of this well-to-do and clever family.

Mr. Teeter was born in Hawley March 23, 1863, received his education here, and in his boyhood and early manhood assisted his father in the store, ac- quiring a thorough knowledge of the details of the business which he now runs. In 1887 he entered the employ of the Erie & Wyoming Railway Co., as fireman, and worked as such three years, after which he became engineer, serving in that capacity for one year, when he returned to Hawley to resume the furniture and undertaking business with his father. During his experience on the railroad he was employed for the most part at Scranton and Dunmore. After his father's death a great share of the responsibility fell upon his shoulders, but he has attended faithfully to business, and has gained

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an enviable reputation as a progressive and capable merchant and manager and a man of genuine worth both in commercial and social life. In December, 1896, he went to New York City to take a course in embalming in Taylor's School for Embalmers, and graduated from same. Ilis business career has been characterized by unusual activity and energetic push, and he already ranks among the prominent well-to-do men of the county, holding an influential position among the best citizens. He is quite active in political circles as a loyal worker for the Repub- lican party, and socially he unites with the F. & A. M., in which he holds the office of junior warden, the Red Men, and the Social Maennerchor of Haw- ley. In religious belief he leans toward the doc- trines of the M. E. Church.

Mr. Teeter has for a number of years been in- terested in chicken raising, and he always keeps about one hundred on hand. He has taken several prizes at exhibitions.

JOHN CLIFT is one of the well-to-do and reliable citizens of Prompton, Wayne county, where he has for several years successfully engaged in busi- ness as a general farmer and stone mason. He comes from across the sea, having been born in Plymouth, Cornwall, England, March 8, 1831. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth ( Derry) Clift, always made their home in that country, where as a life work the father was employed as a stone mason. He died in 1885, aged eighty-four years, the mother in 1837, in middle life. John, the eldest of their three children, is the only one now living, both Ann and Thomas having died in England. For his second wife. the father married Miss Mary Webb, who died in 1882, and five children blessed this union: Thomas, who died in England; James, who remained in that country; William, who came to America, but has not been heard from for some years; Samuel, in England : and Mary, deceased. Our subject's pater- nal grandparents were John and Martha (Bailey ) Clift. of Cornwall, England, and the former was also a stone mason.

With his father the subject of this sketch learned the stone mason's trade, which he contin- ued to follow in England until 1869, when he came to the New World, reaching the shores of this country after a voyage of fourteen days. He first located in Bethany, Wayne county, Penn., but at the end of two months came to Prompton, where . he has since made his home.

In England, Mr. Clift was married in :862, to Miss Elizabeth Ann Colwell, who died in Promp- ton, in 1884, at the age of forty-seven years, and was buried at that place. To them were born three children : Richard, who wedded Mary Wherry, and is now engaged in farming in Clinton township, Wayne county; John, who died in Denver, Colo .; and Ann, who first married A. Penwarden, and after his death wedded James Kenworthy, a barber of Carbondale, Penn. By Rev. W. L. Thorp, a Methodist Episcopal minister, Mr. Clift was again

married, at Honesdale, Penn., September 16, 1886, his second union being with Mrs. Eliza ( Harris) Hines. Our subject sent for her to come to Amer- ica, having previously been acquainted with her in England. She was born in Lewanick, Cornwall, May 3, 1838, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Prout ) Harris, who were members of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, and never left England. The father died in 1870, aged sixty-five years, the mother in 1892, aged eighty-six. Of their chil- dren, John is still a farmer in England ; Ann is the deceased wife of Richard Hicks; William died in England ; Eliza is the wife of our subject; Mary is the widow of Richard Hicks, and a resident of Eng- land ; Elizabeth is the wife of John Tucker, of Pain- ton, England.

Mrs. Clift first married John Hines, who died May 4, 1875, at the age of forty-one years, and was buried in Bude, Cornwall. The children born to them were Hedley Samuel, a sailor, who is still liv- ing in England; John, also a resident of that coun- try ; Thomas and Elizabeth, who died there; Mary, wife of Elsworth Bodie, a salesman of Water- bury, Conn. ; Lewis, a railroad man of Prompton, Penn .; and Bessie and Frederick William, who both died in England.

Since becoming an American citizen, Mr. Clift has always cast his ballot with the Republican party, and has taken quite an active and prominent part in local politics, having served his fellow citizens as councilman three terms; poormaster for the past seven years ; school director three years ; and super- visor two terms. The duties of these various posi- tions he has discharged in a prompt and capable manner, winning the commendation of all con- cerned. In the Methodist Episcopal Church he and his estimable wife both hold membership.

JOHN S. DECKER has for over twenty years been a respected resident of Hawley, Wavne county, where he is a trusted employe of the Erie Railway Co., his occupation being that of machinist. He was born April 28, 1839, in Sussex county, N. J., son of Abraham and Elizabeth ( Struble) Decker, who were also natives of that county, the father born in 1809.

Daniel Decker, the great-grandfather of John S. Decker, was born in New York State, and moved thence to Sussex county, N. J., where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of means, being an extensive farmer and landowner in Wallpack township, Sussex county, where he had five farms, and he also owned slaves. John S. Decker has a copy of his will, in which he be- queathes his most valuable slave, Diana, to his son, John. The last named was born in Sussex county, N. J., and passed all his life there, engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. His son Abraham was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Struble, daughter of John Struble, a farmer of Sussex county, and by her he had five children, viz. : Julia, now the widow of L. L. Hawk, living in Purcells, I. T .;

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Alfred, foreman of the Erie Company's shops at Hawley, Penn .; John S .; Evaline, deceased in 1873, the wife of Theodore Winans, a blacksmith, who now lives in Sussex county, N. J., and Theodore, a conductor on the Erie road, residing at Hor- nellsville, N. Y. The mother of these died July 27, 1847, and was buried in Sussex county, and Mr. Decker subsequently wedded Jane Schoonover, by whom he had two children-Will- iam, who is a clerk in the employ of the Jersey Cen- tral Railway Co. in New York City, and James, whose whereabouts are unknown. Mr. Decker was a tailor by trade and followed that business while in New Jersey, but in his later years he took up agricultural pursuits in Lehman township, Pike Co., Penn., whither he removed with his family in 1855. There he died, on July II, 1881, at the age of seventy-one years, a faithful member of the Re- formed Dutch Church, and was buried at Milford, Pike county. His wife's death also occurred in Lehman township, in April, 1887, when she was aged seventy-one. Mr. Decker was a man of quiet disposition, but persevering and industrious in every- thing he undertook, and was esteemed by all who knew him.

John S. Decker was inured to farm work from his earliest boyhood, and at the age of fourteen years he commenced to work away from home, remaining with one farmer three years, during which time he received four dollars per month. After that, until he reached his majority, he worked on his father's place in Pike county, and then for the two years following was employed by two other farmers, one year each. On August 4, 1861, he enlisted, at Centreville, Sussex Co., N. J., in the Union ser- vice, and was mustered in at Washington, D. C., as private in Company B, Second Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry, under Capt. E. M. Cook, Col. J. Mansfield Davis, commanding. The regi- ment was assigned to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, and saw service in the following engagements and skirmishes : Bull's Bluff (Va.), Falmouth, Rapidan Station, Rappahannock, Thoroughfare Gap, Bull Run, Leesburg, Salem, Brandy Station, Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville, Jones Cross Road, Rob- inson's Ford, White's Ford, Richmond Raid, New Kent C. H., Craig's Church, Hanover C. H., Stony Creek, Ream's Station, Charlestown (W. Va.), Shepardstown (Va.), Waynesboro, Opequon, Luray Valley, Bridgewater, New Market, Cedar Creek, Mt. Jackson, Ashland, Five Forks, Deep Creek, Appomattox, Va. During the early part of his service Mr. Decker was in Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C., for two months, and in the field hospital at Brandy Station for two weeks, and in 1862 he was detailed as orderly to Gen. Sachs. On December 28, 1863, he re-enlisted as veteran in his old command and served to the close of the strug- gle, receiving his final discharge on June 25, 1865.

Mr. Decker returned to his father's home upon receiving his discharge from the army, and a few

months later, on November 8, 1865, he was mar- ried, at Centreville, N. J., by Rev. Mr. Clements, to to Miss Martha Carmer, who was born in Sussex county April 17, 1842. Shortly afterward the young couple located on a farm in Bradford county, Penn., which Mr. Decker rented for four years, and moved thence to another farm in the same county, near the New York line, where they also resided for four years. They again moved, continuing to live in the same township, however, and occupied their last place for two years, until their removal, in 1875, to Hawley, Wayne county, where they have. since had their home. Mr. Decker entered the employ of the Erie Co., with whom he has remained, and he is at present working with his brother Alfred, who is foreman of the Erie shops at Haw- ley. Our subject is a thoroughly experienced machinist, and has proved competent and trust- worthy in the capacity in which he is engaged, giv- ing evidence of considerable mechanical ingenu- ity. He has the respect of all who are associated with him in a business way, as well as of the people of Hawley in general, among whom he is well known1.

Mr. and Mrs. Decker have had three children, namely : Seely, Emma J. and Victor A., of whom the two eldest died when six months old. Victor A. Decker has been for ten years the manager of the Erie Railroad's main telegraph office in Hawley ; he married Miss Minnie B. Kimble, and they have had three children-Irene E. (deceased), Florence L., and Helen M. Our subject and wife occupy a comfortable and cozy home in the town of Haw- ley. Socially he is a member of the Red Men, G. A. R. Post No. 195, and of the K. of H. In political faith he is a Republican.

Mrs. Martha Decker is the daughter of Abra- ham B. and Elizabeth (Steele) Carmer, who were born in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively, and were married in Sussex county, N. J., where they ever afterward resided, Mr. Carmer engaging in farming. They were the parents of six chil- dren-Martha, Mrs. Decker; Sarah J., who mar- ried Joshua Shay and lives on the old homestead in Sussex county ; Phoebe C. and Ann Eliza, both of whom died young; Ann Eliza (2), who died when twenty years of age; and Isaac H., who died at the age of twenty-seven. The father died Jan- uary 25, 1886, when sixty-six years old, the mother April 13, 1885, aged sixty-eight years. He was a Republican politically. He was a son of Isaac Carmer and Hannah Shay, his first wife, who lived and died in New Jersey ; his second wife was Mary Clark, of the same State. Mrs. Carmer's father was Isaac Steele, of Pennsylvania.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 163

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 2390

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 2390