Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 302

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 302
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 302
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 302
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 302

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at Kingston ; he now holds a position in the office of the Delaware & Hudson Co., and makes his home with his parents. Raymond J., born in Honesdale, is at present attending the high school there. The entire family are identified with the M. E. Church of Honesdale.

HYDE CROCKER, a popular railroad postal clerk, residing in Montrose, Susquehanna county, whose route is on the Narrow Gauge railroad be- tween that place and Tunkhannock, Penn., was born in Montrose, April 1, 1834, and belongs to an old Colonial family, of English origin.

The first of whom we have any record was Thomas Crocker, a native of England, who settled in New London county, Conn., in 1640, and was one of the selectmen of the Colony. His son, Samuel Crocker, was a farmer by occupation, and located at West Farms, Conn., in 1671. In his family were four children, three sons and one daughter, one of whom was Jabez, father of Thomas Crocker, Sr., who was born in 1734, and died in Bozrah, New London county. His son, Thomas Crocker, Jr., was the grandfather of our subject. He was born in Bozrah, in 1766, and first came to Susquehanna county, Penn., in 1799. Here he built a log cabin, though he never occupied it, and soon returned to Connecticut, remaining until the spring of 1800, when he again started for this State, stopping, how- ever, through the winter, in Unadilla, N. Y. With his wife and four children he floated down the river on a raft, in the spring of 1801, and located at Great Bend, Susquehanna county, where he re- mained only a short time, and then moved to what is known as the Barnum farm, in Franklin town- ship, where he lived for one year, while working for Mr. Barnum. The following fourteen years he spent upon a farm in South Bridgewater, now known as the Atherton farm, and from there he moved to an adjoining farm, where he was living at the time of his death, in 1848, when he was eighty- three years of age. He married Betsy Calkins Hyde, and to them were born eight children, of whom Hyde, the father of our subject, was the eldest; Harriet was born December 24, 1794; Lucius B. was born March 30, 1797; Mary Ann, born July 27, 1798, died May 13, 1852; John, born January 23, 1802, died August 30, 1825 ; Caroline, born July 4, 1805, died August II, 1809 ; Samuel A., born May 7, 1807, died May 25, 1889; and Daniel W., born September 26, 1809, died May 13, 1871. Hyde, Mary, John, Caroline and Samuel A. all died in Susquehanna county.

Hyde Crocker, Sr., our subject's father, was born in Bozrah, New London Co., Conn., January 25, 1793, but was reared in Susquehanna county, Penn. In 1812 he went to Cażenovia; N. Y., where he learned the carpenter's trade with his uncle. There he joined a troop which saw some service in the war of 1812. Returning to Montrose in 1816, he worked at building until 1838. He was mar- ried at Montrose, October 25, 1822, to Miss Sally

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Cornwall, who was born in Deerfield, Mass., March 8, 1796. The progenitor of the Cornwall family in America was William Cornwall, an English Puritan, who came to this country with Peter Blackler's expedition, May 2, 1635, at the age of twenty years, and first located in Hartford county, Conn., later removing to Middletown, that State, where his death occurred. He was born in 1615, and died February 2, 1668. His son William was born in 1641, and from him the line of descent to our subject is traced through William (3), born in 1671; Andrew, born in 1700; Andrew (2), born in 1735; and Amos, born in 1765, in Middletown, Conn., who was the maternal grandfather of our subject. In Greenfield, Mass., he married Abigail Severance, who was born September 4, 1768, and both died in Cairo, Greene Co., N. Y. The names and dates of birth of their children were as fol- lows: Richard, February 25, 1787; Samuel, Jan- uary 3, 1789; Abigail, April 10, 1791; Richard, March 6, 1793 ; Cynthia, July 25, 1794 ; Sally, March 8, 1796; Amos, March 31, 1798; Thomas, June 30, 1800; George, August 11, 1802; Maria, April 25, 1804; Solomon, February 4, 1806; and Jonathan, June 17, 1809. Of these, Abigail married James Deans, and lived in Susquehanna county.

For sixteen years after his marriage the father of our subject livea in Montrose, and in 1838 re- moved to a farm in Bridgewater township, where he made his home until 1867, and then took up his residence in Montrose, where our subject now lives. He was a very successful farmer, and spent his last days in retirement from active labor. In early life he was a Democrat in politics, but on the organization of the Republican party he voted for Fremont, and continued one of its stanch support- ers. He was an earnest and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, with which he united in 1832. He passed away July 4, 1886, his wife May 12, 1887, and they were laid to rest in the Mont- rose cemetery. To this worthy couple were born eight children, namely: Franklin, born December 3, 1823, died December 24, 1823; Samuel, born March 20, 1826, died the same day; John H., born April 8, 1828, died January 8, 1829; Almon H., born December 6, 1830, died September 9, 1832; Sally M., born June 16, 1832, is the widow of George M. Dennison, a farmer, and is now a resident of Scranton, Penn .; Hyde, Jr., our subject, is next in the order of birth; George W., born May 25, 1835, married Lovisa Stone; and Thomas, born March 28, 1837, died September 6, 1840.

On leaving the parental roof Hyde Crocker, Jr., went to Montrose, where he served a three- years' apprenticeship to the wagonmaker's trade under Jonas Mack, and then worked at his trade for one and a half years in Lynn, Penn., and two and a half years in Springville. He was thus em- ployed at Port Jervis, N. Y., when the Civil war broke out. On April 18, 1861, he enlisted, for three years or during the war, in Company F, 62d N. Y. V. I., under Thomas Holt, but in June was trans-

ferred to a cavalry company which he helped to re- cruit, afterward Company M, Ist New Jersey Cav- alry, Capt. John P. Fowler. He participated in thirty-four engagements, including the battles of Woodstock, Harrisonburg, Cross Keys, Port Re- public, Cedar Mountain, Stoneman's Raid, Bull Run (second), Fredericksburg and Brandy Station. During the last-named engagement he was wound- ed in the left arm, receiving a saber cut, and was captured, June 9, 1863, being first taken to Libby prison where he was incarcerated eleven months. He was next confined in a prison at Macon, Ga., for two and a half months, and at Charleston, S. C., for the same length of time, after which he was sent to Columbia, S. C., and from there to Wil- mington, where he was paroled March 1, 1865, after almost two years spent in the loathsome Southern prisons. He then returned home on a furlough, and was honorably discharged June 23, 1865. He served as orderly sergeant from the time he entered the army until February, 1863, when he was made second lieutenant of Company H, and was filling that office at the time of his capture. He received no further promotion, but after his return to his command was transferred to Company A as first lieutenant.

After receiving his discharge Mr. Crocker re- turned to Port Jervis, N. Y., and resumed work at his trade. There he was married, January 7, 1867, to Miss Anna Caskey, born in Deckertown, N. J., October 1, 1833, a daughter of Thomas and Cornelia (Haines) Caskey, who were also born in New Jersey, and died in Port Jervis, N. Y. To Mr. and . Mrs. Crocker have been born two children.

The day after his marriage Mr. Crocker came to Montrose, where he has since made his home, and in the spring of 1867 opened a wagon shop, which he conducted for four years. In 1878 he was made railroad postal clerk, and has since filled that position, with the exception of six years during President Cleveland's administrations, when he was tax collector, and he also took the census of Mont- rose in 1890. He does beautiful work as a wood engraver, and has two canes with the genealogy of his family carved upon them, which are fine pieces of work. He is a member of the Odd Fel- lows Society, in which he has filled many offices, and also belongs to the Grand Army Post of Mont- rose, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. Polit- ically he is a stanch Republican.

EDWARD PAYSON POPE, general agent for the United States Express Co. at Montrose, Susquehanna county, where he is also engaged in the coal and transfer business, has been prominently identified with the public interests of Susquehanna county for many years, and has most creditably and acceptably filled several important official positions.

A native of that county, he was born in Gibson township, June 22, 1838, a son of William H. Pope, whose sketch will be found elsewhere. During his youth our subject worked for his father in a cloth

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mill in Gibson township, and early acquired a thor- ough knowledge of every department of the busi- ness. He subsequently became part owner of the mill, which he operated in partnership with his fa- ther until elected sheriff of the county, in 1882, when he retired from the business, in order that he might give his whole time and attention to the duties of the office, and removed to Montrose. After the expiration of his term, he served as deputy sher- iff under Z. D. Jenkins for fourteen months, and then purchased a half-interest in the mail route be- between Montrose, New Milford and Alford, run- ning three stages a day to New Milford and two to Alford, until the railroad was built, when he was appointed express agent at Montrose, which po- sition he still fills. He is also engaged in the whole- sale and retail coal business, having been a partner of Billings Stroud until the latter's death, in June, 1899. He is an upright and reliable business man, and commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.

On January 22, 1862, in Jackson township, Sus- quehanna county, Mr. Pope was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Hill, by whom he has three children : Agnes J., wife of R. P. Little, of Mont- rose; Minnie A., wife of George C. Burns, a drug- gist of the same place; and Ethel M. S., wife of Rev. E. K. Thomas, a Baptist minister of Montrose. Mrs. Pope was born in Shepton Mallet, England, March 30, 1841, and came alone to America in 1859, locating in Gibson township. Her parents, William and Joanna (Hill) Hill, were lifelong residents of England, where the father, a farmer by occupation, died in 1879, at the age of seventy-five years, and the mother in 1845 at the age of thirty-seven. Their chil- dren were Hester, who married Radcliffe Wood, and died in Gibson township, Susquehanna Co., Penn .; William and John, who both died in Eng- land; Mary, wife of Samuel Cox, of England ; Thomas, who died in England; Susan, wife of Ed- ward Tyler, a farmer of New Milford township, Susquehanna county ; George, who died in England ; James, a farmer of Gibson township ; Elizabeth, wife of George Cook, of England; Edward, also a resi- dent of England ; Sarah J., wife of our subject ; and Joanna, who died in infancy.

Politically Mr. Pope has always been a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and he has been honored with several local offices besides that of sheriff, having served as constable in Gibson town- ship eight years; collector of Montrose three years ; and town councilman four years. He belongs to the Knights of Honor of Susquehanna, and is an active and prominent member of the Baptist Church of Montrose, of which he has been treasurer for several years.

JOSEPH McCONNELL comes of that sturdy Irish stock to whom obstacles are but an incentive to success. Coming to this country when a youth of sixteen years, he has, through hard work and that rugged honesty which distinguishes his race, at-

tained the enviable position which he now holds among his neighbors and friends. But of this more will be said hereafter ; it is of interest, first, to speak of his ancestry and family connections.

Our subject's paternal grandparents, Joseph and Ellen McConnell, were natives of the eastern portion of Ireland, where they lived and died ; he was a tenant farmer. Our subject's father, John McConnell, was likewise a farmer, but in the North of Ireland, his holding being at Bangor, where the subject of the present sketch was born on June 5, 1819. His mother's maiden name was Sarah McCollough, and ner birthplace was in Scotland. Both his parents died in Ireland, the father at the age of sixty-four, in 1832, the mother in 1845, in her seventieth year. Both were devout Presbyterians, and both passed into rest "full of years and of good works." They were the parents of fifteen children, six of whom died in infancy. The nine who reached mature years were Ellen, Mary, Sarah, Jennie, Margaret, Doro- thy, David, John and Joseph. Of these, Mary, Dav- id and Joseph came to America, and of the entire family only Joseph McConnell survives; Mary mar- ried Robert Alexander, a farmer of Harford town- ship, who is also dead.

As has been said, Joseph McConnell emigrated from Ireland when he was but sixteen years old. For twenty years he lived in New York, and during the first four years of that period served an ap- prenticeship to the saddlery trade, working part of the time on military harness for the government. Having mastered the trade, he embarked in busi- ness on his own account, in which he was moderate- ly successful. Like his parents, he was an earnest Presbyterian, and for some time served as trustee of the Eleventh Presbyterian Church, in New York City. In May, 1855, he removed to Susquehanna county, and bought a farm in Harford township, where he has made his home ever since, having ac- quired a valuable property. He owns 146 acres of farm land, well stocked and improved, a timber tract of sixty-seven acres, and a fine pond of eighty- three acres, all of which are contiguous, besides other holdings.

Before leaving New York Mr. McConnell was married, November 15 1842, to Mary McMurray, the officiating minister being Rev. Dr. Smith. Miss Mc- Murray was, like himself, a native of Bangor, where she was born in 1820, daughter of Thomas Mc- Murray, a wagon maker ; her mother's maiden name was Ellen Dennison. She died in 1894 at the ad- vanced age of seventy-nine years, a "mother in Israel" honored and mourned by the many whose wants she alleviated and by all who knew her worth. Mr. McConnell's marriage was blessed with twelve children, of whom three died in infancy in New York City. Knox L. died unmarried, at the age of thirty- two. Martha became the wife of Fred Wilcox, a Harford farmer, and is deceased. Those yet liv- ing are: Joseph, Jr., unmarried, and conducting the home farm; John C., a druggist at New Milford ; Sarah, unmarried, and living at home; Washington

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W., in the employ of the Manhattan Railroad, and living in New York City; Jennie, the wife of Coe Stearns, a farmer of Harford; Maggie, who mar- ried Wallace Gow, also a prosperous Harford farm- er ; and Thomas D., whose home is at Binghamton, N. Y. Mr. McConnell has been a member of the I. O. O. F. for half a century.

TRACY H. SMITH, farmer and stockman of Damascus township, Wayne county, is one of the respected, well-to-do residents of his section, and a member of one of the earliest pioneer families. He is a son of Isaac Smith, and a grandson of Henry and Elizabeth Smith, who came from Philadelphia to Wayne county among its first settlers, and here passed the remainder of their lives. They left a family of six children, Sally, John, Laura, Hulda, Henry and Isaac, of whom the eldest daughter mar- ried George Brannon, of Oregon township, this county ; John, who was a soldier in the Mexican war, married, and died in Wayne county, leaving a family ; Laura is the wife of Cornelius Branning, of Wayne county, and is a mother of a large family ; Hulda became the wife of Peter Tyler, of Damascus ; Henry was a soldier in the Civil war, and died a few years ago, leaving a wife and children.

Isaac Smith was born in 1818, in Oregon town- ship, Wayne county, and married Morilla Young, by whom he had eight children, namely : John, born in Oregon township, married Miss Mary Shaffer, of Michigan, and they reside in St. Paul, Minn., where he is a prosperous business man, engaging in steam- boating and handling lumber on the lakes; they have no family. Katie is the wife of Porter Smith, of Mckean county, Penn., and has six children, Tracy, John, Frank, Charles; Chester and Mary. Tracy H. is third in the order of birth. Lucinda, born in Wayne county, married George Deo, of Warren county, Penn., and has a family. Henry, born in 1852, in Damascus, married Miss Grace Davie, of Oregon, and has one son, Raymond ; they live in Honesdale, where he is engaged as engineer in the foundry. Lydia married Frank Bedford, of Monticello, N. Y., and has four children, Henry, Minnie, Earl, and Gracie; they make their home in Warren county, Penn. Emma, born in Oregon township, is the wife of Everett Reynolds, who owns a fine farm in Damascus township, where he is en- gaged in general agriculture and lumbering; they have two children, Morris and Myrtle. Isaac, born in Oregon township, married Miss Lizzie Clemens, of Dyberry, and they live on the old home farm with his father and mother; they have four sons, John, Calvin, Leroy and Clyde. When a young man Isaac Smith, Sr., made a purchase of wild land in Oregon township, which he has lived to see cleared and improved with a comfortable residence, good buildings, etc., and equipped with various other conveniences unknown to farmers when he began the work of converting his property into a profitable farm. His noble wife, who had her share in the hardships and privations which the pioneers endured

while the country was still in its primitive state, has also been spared to him, and they are now enjoying their declining years amid the comforts acquired by early toil.

Tracy H. Smith was born January 3, 1847, in Oregon township and grew to manhood on the home farm, during his boyhood receiving a good common school education. He was but seventeen years of age when he offered his services to the government for the Civil war, becoming a member of Company F, 3rd Pensylvania Heavy Artillery, Army of the James, under Gen. Ord, sworn in at Easton, Penn. His first engagement was in November, 1864, at Fort Harrison, when both sides experienced heavy losses, but they succeeded in driving the Rebels back. During the winter the regiment was incor- porated into the 188th P. V. I., and in the spring of 1865 Mr. Smith's command was detached to fol- low up the guerrilla general, Moseby, at which they were engaged until Lee's surrender, from that time until the end of their term of service guarding gov- ernment property. Our subject was honorably dis- charged at Philadelphia, on November 9, 1865, and not long after his return home he went to Mason county, Mich., where he remained for seven years, following lumbering in the pineries. At the end of that time he came back to his native State, for four years working in Warren county, and he has since lived in Wayne county, engaging in general farm- ing and stock raising.

In March, 1878, Mr. Smith was united in mar- riage with Miss Adeline Loveless, of Damascus, daughter of John and Charlotte Loveless, the former of whom is one of the pioneer lumbermen of Wayne county, and the young couple located on a new farm in Damascus, which Mr. Smith commenced to clear. The tract contains fifty acres, all of which is now under cultivation and highly improved, with good buildings, neat fences and other appurtenances of a well-conducted and carefully managed farm. The place is well stocked with cattle, horses and other domestic animals, and is a valuable and desirable piece of property, made so by the owner's constant toil during his residence thereon, a fact which is much to his credit.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith are among the most es- teemed residents of Damascus township, and de- serve the respect which is everywhere accorded them. They are members of the Baptist Church in religious connection. Politically Mr. Smith is a Democrat, of the old Jacksonian stripe. He is promi- nent in local G. A. R. circles, belonging to Capt. James Ham Post No. 198, of Honesdale, and he takes a loyal interest in all the affairs of that body.

WILLIAM A. DECKER is a well-known and prominent citizen of Dundaff, Susquehanna county, now engaged in general farming and also conduct- ing the "Dundaff House," one of the most popular hotels of this section of the county. It was erected by Gould Phinney, contains twenty-four rooms, and

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is conveniently located six miles from Carbondale and thirty miles from Montrose, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Decker was born in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe Co., Penn., April 16, 1844, a son of Lewis and Maria T. (Shultz) Decker, the former a native of Germany, the latter of Bethlehem, Northampton Co., Penn. They were married in Bethlehem, and thence removed to Monroe county in 1844, locat- ing in Chestnut Hill township when it was almost an unbroken wilderness, and they had to cut away the brush before erecting their house. The father was a farmer and cabinet maker, and served as constable and tax collector in his township. He died upon his farm in February, 1866, aged forty-eight years, and was buried in the old Chestnut Hill cemetery, while his wife died in Bethlehem, Penn., in April, 1892, and was laid to rest there. They were members of the Moravian Church, and highly respected by all who knew them. Our subject is the eldest of their children, the others being Charles, who died in Monroe county ; Ellen, wife of Charles Rice, of Bethlehem; and James and Sidney, who both died in Monroe county.

William A. Decker was reared in much the usual manner of farmer boys of his day, and at the age of twenty-three years took charge of the home farm, which he successfully operated for six years. He then removed to Bethlehem, and for a year and a half was fireman on an engine on the Northern Pennsylvania railroad. On May 10, 1876, he was promoted to engineer, and filled that position for eight years. Subsequently he engaged in farming in Northampton county for four years, and for three years conducted a hotel at Hellertown, that county. For the same length of time he was similarly em- ployed at Clifford, Susquehanna county, and in April, 1892, purchased his present hotel of S. F. Williams. Here he has since carried on operations as hotel proprietor and general farmer with marked success, and is numbered among the leading and rep- resentative business men of Dundaff. He is a Democrat in political sentiment, and has served as treasurer of the borough for three years, but has never cared for the honors or emoluments of public office. In religious faith he is a Lutheran, but there is no Church of that denomination in Dundaff. Socially he belongs to the Knights of the Golden Eagle No. 112, of Hellertown.

Mr. Decker has been twice married, first at Brodheadsville, Penn., to Miss Sarah Anglemoyer, by whom he had one child, Hilorius, who married Lottie Huttlestem and resides in South Bethlehem. Mrs. Decker was a native of Tannersville, Monroe county, and a daughter of Adam Anglemoyer. She died in February, 1866, at the age of twenty-one years, and was buried in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county.

In February, 1870, in South Bethlehem, Mr. Decker married Mrs. Rebecca (Herring) Walker, and to them were born two children : Ellen, now the wife of Orlando Old, a carpenter of Allentown, Penn .; and Wilson, a merchant of Dundaff, who

married Edith Rimen. Mrs. Rebecca Decker was born in Lehigh county, Penn., February 5, 1841, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Frabei) Her- ring. Her father, who was a farmer by occupation, and a member of the Lutheran Church, was born in Bath, Northampton Co., Penn., and died there in 1863, aged fifty-six years. Her mother was born in Monroe county, April 16, 1817, and is now living in Salisbury, Lehigh county, Penn. The children born to this worthy couple were Annie, wife of Reuben Transom, of Bushkill Center, Penn .; Cath- erine, wife of William Moritz, of Salisbury, Penn .; Rebecca, wife of our subject; John, who died at the age of twenty years; Arthur, who died at the age of fifteen; Helena, who died at the age of thirteen ; Mary, wife of Thomas Rhodes, of Amos, Penn .; Sarah, wife of Peter Stener, of Salisbury; and Le- nora, wife of Sylvester Yocoby, of Seidersville, Northampton Co., Penn. Mrs. Decker's paternal grandparents, Andrew and Catherine ( Mozier) Her- ring, were farming people of Bath, Penn. . Mrs. Decker first married Samuel Walker, a carpenter by trade, and a son of Jacob W. Walker. He died in Bath, in 1863, at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving her with one son, Peter J., who is a police officer in a bank at Bethlehem; he married Carrie Lambert, and has three children-Harry L., Will- iam P. and Ada.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 302

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