Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 32

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 32
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 32
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 32
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 32

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Our subject's paternal grandparents were Ed- ward and Frances Cross, natives of Ireland, who came to Wayne county about 1805, and located in Sterling township, two miles southeast of Sterling postoffice, where they made their home throughout the remainder of their lives. The grandfather pur- chased 400 acres of timber land, and in the midst of the wilderness engaged in lumbering and farm- ing. He died in 1854, aged eighty years, and his wife departed this life April 1, 1852, aged seventy- four. Their children were Robert, who married Julia Robacker ; James, father of our subject; Will- iam, who married Mary J. Hazelton ; Thomas, who married Elizabeth Fisher; Elizabeth, who died at the age of twenty years; Jemima, wife of Brice Blair; Rachel, wife of Simon Bortree; Fannie J., wife of Allen Bortree; Judith, wife of Charles Goodrich; and Mary A., wife of Nathaniel Martin. The sons were all farmers and lumbermen, and all died in Wayne county. The maternal grandparents of our subject, Isaac and Susan (Vaughn) Kipp, spent their entire lives in Pike Co., Penn., and the former was also a lumberman and farmer. He died in 1830, aged fifty years, and his wife in 1883, aged ninety years, the remains of both being interred in Greene township, Pike county. They had six chil- dren: John, who married Hannah Correll; Joseph, who married Sallie Corey; Thomas, who married Sarah' Noggle, and was drowned August 24, 1854, aged thirty years; Margaret, who married Charles Jones ; Maria, who married Matthew Hodgson; and Mary A., the mother of our subject.

Joseph E. Cross completed his education in the State Normal School at Millersville, Penn., and at the age of twenty-one began teaching, his first school being Carltons, Greene township, Pike county, where he taught two terms of six months each. He also followed that profession in Monroe county, and at the same time was engaged in repairing watches

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and clocks, and in making marking stencils. Thus employed he traveled through Wayne, Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe counties. In 1876 he em- barked in merchandising at Sterling, and a year later was joined by his brother A. J., the firm being known as Cross Brothers. Together they carried on operations for four years, and were then joined by Samuel N., at the same time purchasing the stock of E. A. Stevens, a merchant of the same place. In the fall of 1890 our subject bought out the firm of Simons Brothers, whose store he still conducts, and when Cross Brothers dissolved partnership the fol- lowing year he took the grocery stock, A. J. Cross the dry-goods, and S. N. Cross the hardware.

At the home of the bride, in Sterling township, Mr. Cross was married, June 1, 1880, by Rev. W. H. Gavitt, a Methodist Episcopal minister, to Miss Mary A. Neville, and they have become the parents of seven children, namely: Susan J., born March 25, 1882 ; Katie M., born June 6, 1883 ; Carl J., born February 25, 1885, died February 13, 1887; Royal J., born April 11, 1886; Stella I., born June 22, 1888 ; Myrtle A., born August 17, 1889; and Lowell, born February 7, 1896. Mrs. Cross was born in Uhlers- ville, near Easton, Penn., September 30, 1853, a daughter of James and Catherine ( Croak) Neville, natives of Ireland. The father was born in No- vember, 1831, a son of Joshua and Mary A. (Cross) Neville, who emigrated to the New World in 1848; and the mother is a daughter of Thomas and Mar- garet (Shay) Croak, who came from Ireland to America in 1850. Mrs. Cross is the eldest in a family of five children, the others being Thomas, a farmer of Sterling township; Julia, wife of Seth Bortree, a farmer of the same township; Katie, who is with her parents; and Cora M., deceased.

In connection with his other business Mr. Cross has conducted a blacksmith shop and also engaged in lumbering, in 1899 erecting a steam sawmill on his lumber tract on Butternut creek, where he gives employment to a number of people of the community. As one of the representative and prominent citizens he was in 1889 called upon to serve as treasurer of his township, and in 1890 was appointed postmaster of Sterling, both of which positions he is still most creditably filling. He is a Republican in politics, and a Methodist in religious faith. He has made an untarnished record and unspotted reputation as a business man. In all places and under all cir- cumstances he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly valuing his own self-respect as infinitely more preferable than wealth, fame and position.

REV. BENJAMIN S. LASSITER, sixth rec- tor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, at Milford, Pike county, has won the esteem of the people of that city by his zeal and devotion in his sacred call- ing. The following brief and simple history will be prized, not only by his present parishioners but by their descendants, as a record of a career that has made a permanent impress for good upon the com- munity.

Mr. Lassiter comes of honorable ancestry, the first of the name having come to America from Wales, more than 250 years ago. By intermar- riages the family is connected with many notable personages, including the Colonial Governor Har- vey, of North Carolina, William Blount, signer of the Federal Constitution of North Carolina, Gov- ernors Eden and Johnson of North Carolina, and the Rhinelander family of New York City.

Mr. Lassiter was born September 4, 1852, in Oxford, North Carolina, and was the second of five sons born to Robert William and Kathryn Blount (Skinner) Lassiter, both of whom belonged to old North Carolina families, the father being a son of William and Elizabeth ( Lisle) Lassiter, who werethe parents of two sons and twodaughters. William Las- siter was a planter. The mother was a daughter of Ben- jamin and Elizabeth (Leigh) Skinner, the former of whom was a planter of Perquimans county, N. C. ; he wasoneof thirteen children. Robert William Lassiter was born in 1815 in Granville county, N. C., and was a lawyer by profession, being a graduate of Macon College, Randolph, Va. He practiced for many years in Oxford, N.C., where he died, September 28, 1891, and was prominent in public affairs, serving for many years as county clerk; for four years as State senator; as commissioner in bankruptcy; as commissioner of Internal Revenue ; and as president of the Raleigh & Gaston railroad. His eldest son, Capt. William Lassiter, a graduate of West Point Military Academy, has been an officer of the 16th U. S. Infantry for twenty-seven years, and in June, 1898, was at Santiago de Cuba with the army of in- vasion. He was wounded July 2, on San Juan, but recovered in a few weeks. He has filled with honor to himself every office to which he has been ap- pointed, winning the affection of his soldiers and the esteem of his superior officers. On November 9, 1897, he married Miss Cora Armstrong, of Cum- berland, Md. The third son, Robert W. Lassiter, is in business at his birthplace, Oxford, N. C., where he married Miss Letitia Kittrell; their family con- sists of four sons and two daughters. The fourth son, Richard Thornton Lassiter, a graduate of Princeton, has been for more than a quarter of a century a clerk in the United States Sub-Treasury, New York City; he married (first) Miss Sarah Todd, of Tarrytown, N. Y. (who died the year fol- lowing their marriage), and ( second) Miss Caroline Doane, of New York City. The youngest brother, James S. Lassiter, has been for more than a quarter of a century with the National Blank Co., of Holyoke, Mass. He married Miss Rosa Yardley, of Holyoke.

In 1871 Mr. Lassiter was graduated from Princeton University with honors, being made Clas- sical Fellow, and in the same year he went to Ger- many to pursue a further course of study in the Universities of Berlin and Bonn, and he also attend- ed lectures at the Sorbonne, in Paris. On returning to America in 1873 he became a tutor at the Pauld- ing Manor, Irvington-on-the-Hudson, and in 1874 he was appointed assistant to the rector of the

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Church of the Ascension, New York City. This position he held for more than two years, and in the meantime he completed his course in the General Theological Seminary in New York City, graduat- ing in 1880. His first charge was the Church of Mohican, N. Y., and later he was associated with Dr. Mortimer and Rev. Mr. Cranston in founding St. Austin's school, at W. New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., spending four years in this work. In 1890 he took charge of his present parish, where his efficient work brought about gratifying results. During the nine years of his service the church has been roofed with slate, the windows repaired, porches of stone built, the rectory built and the grounds graded. In 1883 Mr. Lassiter married Miss Alice Gordon, daughter of the. late Rev. George Sewel Gordon, at one time rector of St. Peter's Church, at Peekskill, N. Y. Three children have blessed this union : Mary Thornton, born May 23, 1876, in the rectory at Eltingville, Staten Island ; Benjamin S., Jr., who died at the age of seven months ; and Kathryn Blount, who was born in Mil- ford, March 7, 1892.

Mr. Lassiter is the sixth rector of the parish in Milford. The Church was begun as a mission in 1866 by Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, now Bishop of Pittsburg. From 1866 to 1871 services were held by Revs. Thomas Thorpe, Fred M. Bird, Fran- cis Mansfield, Coleman, Drumm and Luson. The corner-stone was laid in the summer of 1871 by Rev. Leighton Coleman, now bishop of Delaware, and the mission was organized into a parish April 3, 1872. The first rector was Rev. William B. Hooper, who had charge of the parish from 1872 to 1875. The second rector was Rev. A. H. Gessner, who re- mained from 1875 to 1878. During this rectorship the debt of over $1,000 was paid off, and many im- provements made. Mr. Gessner was a native of Nova Scotia, and became a business man in New York City, but later left business life to take Holy Orders. He met with great success in his work, but was suddenly stricken with paralysis which left him crippled on the left side. For twenty years after this he labored earnestly, first at Milford and then at St. Mary's Beechwood, near Sing Sing, N. Y. He was a man of great force of character and of rare social qualities, and had the faculty of attaching others to himself in an unusual degree. His influence over young men is shown in the fact that all the young men of his household-his two sons, Richmond H. and Anthon H. Gessner, and his nephew, Alonzo C. Stewart-followed his ex- ample and became clergymen. The third rector, Rev. Samuel Edwards, remained from 1879 to 1881. The fourth rector, Rev. d'Estaing Jennings, from 1883 to 1885. The fifth rector, Rev. Edward Sil- van Cross, who served from 1885 to 1887, was in business for some years before entering the ministry, was an active worker in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Boston under Philips Brooks, afterward Bishop Brooks. Mr. Cross was a man of wide reading, and being gifted with a good memory, was

a most interesting conversationalist, while his geni- ality made warm friends of all his parishioners. After his rectorate at Milford he was for a number of years in Silver City and San Marcial, N. Mex., was member of the standing committee and examin- ing Chaplain for New Mexico. Hon. Edgar Pin- chot was warden of the Church for twenty-five years, from 1871 to 1896. The seventh rector, Rev. Charles Blake Carpenter, succeeded Rev. B. S. Las- siter in May, 1899, was married in the autumn of 1899 to Miss Evelyn Burbank Smith, of New York City. He has filled a short space of time with many good works, and gives every promise of magnificent success.

MAHLON H. KRESGE, proprietor of the Pleasant Valley Flouring Mill, in Polk township, Monroe county, is an able and successful business man, and is also well known in local political circles, his genial and polished manners and excellent quali- ties of character making him popular among all classes. The mill, which he purchased a quarter of a century ago, was built in 1853 by Frederick Shupp, and occupies a fine site affording unfailing water supply to the twenty-five horse power machinery with which the grinding is done. The spot is his- toric on account of desperate struggles with the In- dians, a family having been massacred there and a mill burned in early days.

Mr. Kresge was born October 2, 1854, in Polk township, Monroe county, a son of George W. Kresge, and grandson of William Kresge, who set- tled in that locality in 1765 upon a farm which is still in the possession of the family. This worthy pioneer married Hannah Serfass, and had eight chil- dren : William, Jacob, George W., Joseph, Hannah, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Susan.

George W. Kresge, our subject's father, was a native of Polk township, Monroe county, where he passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He was an influential citizen, and an active worker in the Demo- cratic party, holding various township offices, while he also manifested great interest in religious work as a member of the Reformed Church. He died in 1887 aged seventy-one years; his wife Sally (Kun- kel) died a year later at the age of sixty-eight years, the remains of both being interred in Pleasant Val- ley cemetery. Our subject was the youngest in a family of eight children, the others being: Cath- erine, wife of George Anglemayer, a blacksmith of Polk township, Monroe county; Christianna (de- ceased), who married Reuben Frabel, of Kunkle- town, Monroe county; Lavina, who died in child- hood ; Paul, a merchant at Stamersville, who married Miss Mary Stemler,; Salina, who married Nathan Hawk, a carpenter of Northampton county ; Free- man, a farmer in Polk township, Monroe county, who married Elizabeth Sayers; and J. Monroe, a farmer in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county, who married (first) Eliza Dersheimer, and ( second) Alice Serfass.

During his youth our subject enjoyed the usual

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educational privileges of country boys, and at the age of twenty he purchased his present mill from the David Hawk estate. The business being unfamiliar, he hired for a year an experienced workman, but he has since run the mill himself. Politically Mr. Kresge is a Democrat, and in 1886 he was elected county auditor for the term of three years. In 1898 he was prominently mentioned for the office of sher- iff, but the nomination finally fell to another party. For two years past he has served as deacon in the Reformed Church at Gilberts, and he and his wife are associated helpfully with all progressive move- ments of the community.

On February 16, 1878, Mr. Kresge was mar- ried, at Lehighton, Penn., to Miss Amanda Dor .. shimer, and four children have brightened the home : Cora, who died at the age of nine months; Sally, who died July 1, 1884, aged two years and eight months ( she slipped away from her mother and went to the mill, where she fell into the race and was drowned) ; Mary and S. Olive, at home, the former a pupil in the Polytechnic Institute at Gilberts. Mrs. Kresge was born May 12, 1852, in Polk township, Monroe county, daughter of George Dorshimer, and granddaughter of John and Anna Dorshimer, all residents of Monroe county. George Dorshimer, Mrs. Kresge's father, was a farmer by occupation and throughout his life was a steadfast supporter of the Democratic party. In religious faith he was a Lutheran, and he and his wife were leading mem- bers of the Church at Gilberts. He died in 1896, aged eighty-eight years; his wife Fanny (Shupp), who was born in 1811, died in 1888, their remains being interred at the Pleasant Valley Church ceme- tery. They had eight children: Peter, a carpenter in Chestnut Hill township; Anna, widow of Charles Fisher, of Kresgeville; Katie, who married Jerome Kresge, of Chestnut Hill township; Lucinda, who married Daniel Haney, of Brodheadsville, Penn., now serving as justice of the peace ; John, who mar- ried Lucinda Gregory, and resides on the old home- stead; Augusta, who married (first) William Gil- bert and ( second) John Winsborough, of Pen Argyl, Penn. ; Amanda, wife of our subject; and Fanny, who married Tilman Serfass, superintendent of the schools in Monroe county. The Shupp family, to which Mrs. Kresge's mother belonged, is well known in this section, and her parents, Peter and Margaret (Hawk) Shupp, were residents of Monroe county.

MARSHALL MERWIN, of Stroudsburg, Monroe county, is the agent of the Standard Oil Company at that place, the branch being known as the Atlantic Refining Company, and he enjoys an enviable reputation in business circles for sound judgment and executive ability.

Mr. Merwin was born February 6, 1852, in Tunkhannock township, Monroe county, and is of French descent in the paternal line, his great-grand- father, Jacob Merwin, having been the first of the family to make his home in America. Peter Merwin, our subject's grandfather, resided in Tunkhannock

township, Monroe county, and he and his wife, Sarah (Denton), had ten children: (1) John, now deceased. (2) Jacob died many years ago. (3) Denton, a Methodist minister, went to California thirty years ago, and is now, at the age of eighty- nine, serving as city missionary at East Los An- geles ; his son Scott went to sea in early manhood and has never been heard from since. (4) Fannie married Dr. Jacob Rupert, and died near Sciota, Penn., leaving a large family. (5) Amanda, who resides in Stroudsburg, is the widow of Jesse Farel. (6) George W. is mentioned below. (7) Peter, who was at one time Sheriff of Monroe county, died in Tunkhannock township. (8) Mary A. mar- ried Robert Sleath and died in Wyoming county, Penn. (9) Sarah died in girlhood . (10) William is a resident of Clifton, Lackawanna county, Penn- sylvania.

George W. Merwin, our subject's father, was born January 16, 1816, in Tunkhannock township, Monroe county, and died in March, 1899. He was married in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county, to Miss Sallie Warner, who was born in 1818, near Tannersville, and died in the winter of 1895. They had the following children: Josiah, a blacksmith at Tobyhanna Mills ; Wilson a laborer at Emporia, Kans. ; Delilah, who married W. Bowers, formerly of Tobyhanna township, Monroe county, but now a resident of Wilkes Barre; Luther (deceased), for- merly a carpenter at Houtzdale, Penn .; Edwin, a farmer in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county ; Marshall, our subject ; Emma, who married Edwin Wilson, and resides at the old home in Tunkhannock township; and Augustus (deceased), who was a laborer by occupation.

Our subject received a district-school education in his native township, and for a short time he was engaged in teaching there. On leaving home he went to Pittston, Penn., where he was employed by a wholesale oil and powder agent for about seven years. As he became familiar with the details of that work his abilities attracted attention and since 1887 he has held his present responsible position with the Standard Oil Cmpany. On June 5, 1877, he married Miss Sallie Bond, of Chestnut Hill town- ship, Monroe county, and one son has blessed the union, Robert R., born July 16, 1883. They have also an adopted son, George Merwin, born October 16, 1877. In 1896 Mr. Merwin completed a hand- some residence in Main street, Stroudsburg, which is considered one of the finest in the city. He and his wife are popular socially, and they take an in- telligent interest in all the topics of the day. Their library, which is extensive for a private collection, contains a well-selected stock of books, affording a sure indication of culture and literary taste. In politics Mr. Merwin is a Prohibitionist, and he and his wife are active in religious work as members of the Reformed Church.

Mrs. Merwin was born January 30, 1852, in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county, and is probably of French descent on the paternal side.

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Her grandfather, John Bond, was a resident of Monroe county, and her father, George Bond, was born there in 1812, and made his home in Chestnut Hill township, where he died in 1876. His wife, Elizabeth ( Kreige), was born in Chestnut Hill town- ship, in. 1820, and now resides with our subject. They had ten children : Hannah, who married (first) a Mr. Singer, and ( second) William Keichler, re- siding at West Pitston; William, who died from diphtheria at the age of twenty-one; Philip, who enlisted in 1862 in Company B, 51st P. V. I., and was killed six weeks later (on May 8, 1862) in the battle of the Wilderness; Angeline, wife of F. W. Born, a barber at Stroudsburg; Lucinda, who died in childhood from diphtheria; Sallie, Mrs. Merwin; Jerome, a farmer in Tompkins county, N, Y. ; Finan- dus, a farmer in Chestnut Hill township; Manda, wife of Lafayette Hauck, of Monroe county; and Emma, who married Louis Wallace, of Strouds- burg.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER GREGG. In past ages the history of a country was the record of wars and conquests ; to-day it is the record of commer- cial activity, and those whose names are foremost in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The conquests now made are those of mind over matter, not of man over man, and the victor is he who can successfully establish, control and operate extensive commercial interests. Among the most prominent and successful business men of Hawley, Wayne county, is William A. Gregg, junior member of the well-known mercantile firm of Woodward & Gregg.

Mr. Gregg was born near Schenectady, N. Y., May 30, 1852, a son of Daniel and Mary (Fisher) Gregg, also natives of Schenectady county, the former born near the town of Schenectady, Decem- ber 19. 1824, the latter in Glenville, September 9, 1829. They were married July 20, 1848. In early life the father was employed as foreman by the contractors building the track known as the Hones- dale branch of the Erie railroad, between Lacka- waxen and Hawley, which has since been extended to Honesdale; was later employed as conductor for many years ; and for eight years served as yardmas- ter at Hawley, where he made his home from 1862 until his death, which occurred March 24, 1892, at the home of our subject. His remains were in- terred in the cemetery at that place. As a business man he met with excellent success, which enabled him to spend his last years in retirement from active labor. The mother died November 22, 1860, while the family were living in New York City, where the father served as foreman for Fairchilds, Walker & Co., contractors building the reservoir. She was laid to rest in Schenectady, N. Y. Both were faith- ful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while politically the father was identified with the Republican party, and socially was a Master Mason. Of their two children, Mary E., born September II, 1854, died July 17, 1857.

The paternal grandparents of our subject, Will-

iam and Anna (Darrow) Gregg, spent their entire lives in New York State, where the former engaged in farming until his death. He passed away in early life, but his wife lived to a ripe old age. Their children were Eleazor, who died at Little Falls, N. Y .; Tryphena, who married Gilbert Little (both are now deceased) ; Barbara, who married William Kelly (both are deceased) ; Hannah, deceased wife of Alexander Fisher, a brother of our subject's mother ; Daniel, the father of our subject; Andrew, who died at Union Dale, Susquehanna Co., Penn .; George, who died at Schenectady, N. Y. ; and Prudence A., wife of Charles Plath, engineer on the Gravity rail- road, and a resident of Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

Alexander and Agnes (Browh) Fisher, the maternal grandparents of our subject, were born, reared and married in Scotland, and on coming to America located at Glenville, N. Y., where the for- mer engaged in farming, and where they spent their remaining days. Of their children, Andrew is still a resident of Glenville ; Thomas lives in Hebron, Ill. : Eliza died unmarried; William is a merchant of Hebron, Ill .; Alexander married Hannah Gregg, mentioned above; Mary was the mother of our sub- ject ; John is a civil engineer of Hebron ; and Isabel is the wife of Charles Bennett, an attorney, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

After the death of his mother William A. Gregg lived with his maternal grandparents at Glenville, N. Y., until fifteen years of age, at which time he came to Hawley, Wayne Co., Penn., where his father was located, attending the village schools for the first two years after his arrival. He then clerked in the general store of Levi Barker for seven years, and for several years was in the employ of the Pennsylvania Coal Co., as clerk. In 1887, in part- nership with C. H. Woodward, he embarked in merchandising, in which he has since successfully engaged.

Mr. Gregg was married, in Hawley, January 24, 1883, to Miss Helen R. Snyder, Rev. W. B. West- lake, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, officiating, and they have become the parents of four children : D. Raymond, who was born November 18, 1883, and died February 11, 1886; Mary E., born January 5. 1886; Jessie M., born June 15, 1889; and George W., born March 10, 1891.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 32

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