Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 369

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 369
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 369
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 369
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 369

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On December 25. 1840, Mr. Farnham was mar- ried to Miss Eunice A. Gunn, and they commenced

housekeeping in the "Slab Castle." They reared two children-Fred C., in the insurance business at Honesdale, and Frank G. The former married Charlotte Oram, and has one child, Norman, who is attending school at Honesdale. Frederick W. Farnham was, in his earlier years, a prominent worker in the Episcopal Church at Honesdale, and being a good singer he was for a long time leader of the choir. On March 10, 1899, he passed away at the age of eighty-one years and ten months, in the full possession of all his faculties except sight, which was impaired by a cataract. Eunice A. (Gunn) Farnham was born near Rome, N. Y., September 26, 1819, a daughter of Simeon and Rhodann (Burton) Gunn, the former of whom was born at Milford, Conn., and the latter at Woodbury, that State. Her father was Major Bur- ton, one of the officers on Gen. Washington's staff. To Mr. and Mrs. Gunn were born two sons and two daughters -- Jeremiah C .; George C .; Mrs. Farnham; and Mrs. Blake. The father was a man of quiet disposition, in politics a Whig, in religion a Presbyterian. He spent most of his life in New York State, but died at Cherry Run, Penn.

Frank G. Farnham makes his home with his mother, who still enjoys good health at a ripe old age. He received a liberal education in early life, and later was in the lumber business with his father for some years. In 1870 he went to, Hawley, this county, where he remained for six years, and he is at present engaged in manufacturing at White Mills, making polishing brushes for cut glass. He possesses mechanical skill and ingenuity above the average, and is an inventor of considerable note. The firm name is The F. G. Farnham Brush Co., and the works are some five miles from Honesdale, and give employment to about ten hands. They manufacture not only polishing brushes for cut glass and metal polishing brushes, patented by himself, but rotary shoe and other brushes. He also holds patents on a feeding-up machine used in putting the polishing putty to the rotary polish- ing bench used in polishing glass (this machine is used on a royalty all over the country) ; an im- proved tumbler and chimney glass blank which is also out on a royalty. Politically he is a bimetallist He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and pres- ident of the Exchange Club of Honesdale, the leading social club of the city.

E. J. SANFORD, who for the past nine years has been the efficient and popular postmaster of Island Pond, Wayne county, is an active, enterpris- ing business man, whose energies have not been confined to one line of operation, for he successfully conducts a general store in Island Pond, and also carries on farming and dairying in Preston town- ship. He was born in that township, in 1848, and throughout life has been prominently identified with its interests.

Joseph B. Sanford was born in 1821, in Mon- roe, Conn., and when a young man came to Wayne

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county, where he married Miss Jane Woodmansee, of Preston township, a representative of a promi- nent pioneer family from Massachusetts. They be- gan their domestic life at Winwood, Penn., where the father purchased a farm, but in 1864 removed to Preston township, purchasing a tract of timberland at Island Pond, upon which he engaged in lumber- ing during the remainder of his life. His death occurred in September, 1897, and his wife passed away in 1883. Their children were as follows: (I) Lucretia, born in Preston township, in 1844, is the wife of C. W. Allen, a lumberman and farmer of Buckingham township, Wayne county, and has a family. (2) Daniel L., born in 1845, married Lucy Stanton, and with his family lives on his farm in Preston township. (3) Frank B., born on the old homestead in 1847, wedded Mary Melns, of Wayne county, by whom he has children, and they make their home in Deposit, N. Y., where he follows the carpenter's trade. (4) E. J. is the next of the family. (5) James C., born in 1850, married Asby Haynes, of Wayne county, and with his family re- sides in Preston township. (6) William H., born in 1852, married Viola Dix, of Wayne county, and they live on a part of the old homestead in Pres- ton township. (7) Hattie, born in 1854, died in 1860. (8) Annie, born in 1861, married Clark Kilpatrick, who is engaged in railroading in Car- bondale, Lackawanna Co., Penn. (9) Luman E., born in 1863, is a graduate of the Drew Theological Seminary, and is now the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ariel, Penn. ; he married Lizzie Dix and has two children.

During his boyhood and youth E. J. Sanford pursued his studies in the district schools of Pres- ton township, and he remained upon the home farm until he attained to man's estate. He was married, in.1876, to Miss Georgiana Kilpatrick, of Wayne county, who died in 1883, leaving three children, who were all born on the old homestead. Robert G., born in 1878, is a student in Hotches high school of Connecticut ; and Lottie, born in 1880, and Eliza- beth, born in 1882, are attending the home school. In 1886 Mr. Sanford was again married, his sec- ond union being with Miss Mary Dow, of Wayne county, who was educated in the public schools, and successfully followed teaching for about ten years in Wayne and Susquehanna counties. Her parents, George and Mary L. Dow, were natives of Connecticut, and were pioneer settlers of Wayne county, which was their home for the long period of seventy years. By his second marriage, Mr. Sanford had two children : Lynn Edgar, who was born in January, 1894, and died March 24, 1895; and Greta Marie, born August 17, 1897.

Mr. Sanford remained on the old home farm caring for his parents until they were called to the world beyond, after which he purchased the place, making it his home until 1887, when he re- moved to an adjoining farm. Here he has erected a comfortable residence and store building, and now gives considerable attention to mercantile pursuits.

His patronage comes from a territory many miles in extent. The establishment would do credit to a much larger village than Island Pond, as it is com- plete in all of its departments, and up to the times in every particular. In 1888, during President Cleveland's administration, he was appointed post- master, and is still acceptably filling that position. He has also efficiently served as school director for four years. His political support is always given the Prohibition party, as he is an earnest tem- perance worker and a pronounced enemy of the liquor traffic.

JOSIAH WHITTAKER is a prominent citi- zen of Barrett township, Monroe county. He is a native of England, but when a small child came with his parents to America, and in this country developed the traits which have made him one of the successful and influential men of the community in which he lives.

He was born at Manchester, England, in De- cember 1846, son of Josiah and Sarah (Tenant) Whittaker, both natives of that city. Josiah Whit- taker, Sr., was born January 18, 1820; his wife in May, 1819. Left an orphan when but nine years of age, and being the oldest in a family of four, he early took up the responsibilities of life, and main- tained the others until each one in turn became old enough to assist. When a boy he learned the ma- chinist's trade and followed it for some years. In 1850 he migrated with his wife to America. Arriv- ing at Philadelphia he decided to locate in Mont- gomery county, Penn., and there in partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas Wolden, he en- gaged in the manufacture of shoelaces and skirt braid, also covering the hoops for the first hoop- skirts made in America. Business was conducted for a number of years under the name of Whittaker & Wolden, but after the death of the latter it was. sold, and is now known as the Star Braid Manu- facturing Co., and prospered beyond their expecta- tion. Owing to the ill health of Mr. Whittaker he was, in 1858, compelled to dispose of his profitable enterprise. Selling his interest to Mr. Wolden, he removed with his family to South Sterling, Wayne county, Penn., where he engaged in mer- cantile pursuits ; conducting a general store until his death in December, 1888. Early in that year he had been appointed by President Cleveland post- master at Sterling, and held the office at the time of his death. His widow survived him until March, 1898. To Josiah and Sarah Whittaker were born eight children, four of whom survived him, name- ly: Josiah, John, Eliza, Jane and Mary. Josiah, subject of this sketch, was the eldest. John, born in Manchester, England, in December 1849; mar- ried Maggie Pearson, of Prompton, Wayne county, and now resides on the farm purchased by his father, some time prior to the latter's death; he has six children, as follows-Jennie; Robert, who married Miss Barnes, has one child and resides at South Stering; Thomas; Annie; Maggie and

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Francis. Eliza Jane Whittaker was born at Phila- delphia July 10, 1855, married John Shall, a farmer and lumberman of Greene township, Pike county, and has five children-Mary, Esther, Elsie, Florence and Ada.

Josiah Whittaker was three years old when he crossed the ocean with his parents. He attended the public schools, receiving a fair education. Com- ing to Wayne county with his father he managed the latter's farm for a number of years. In 1868 Mr. Whittaker married Miss Sarah Williams, daughter of Jeremiah and Rachel Williams, well- known pioneers of South Sterling, Wayne county, and sister of Hon. J. B. Williams, a leading attor- ney of Stroudsburg. To Josiah and Sarah Whit- taker was born one child, Fannie, now Mrs. Kimble, of Honesdale, Penn. For his second wife our sub- ject in 1874 married Mrs. Augusta Roberts, daugh- ter of Christian F. and Teresa (Winters) Blitz, who was born in Germany January 11, 1849, and in May of the same year was brought to America by her parents, who settled in Philadelphia, re- maining in that city three years. Christian Blitz then moved to Newfoundland, Wayne Co., Penn., where he conducted a meat market for some years, and later bought a farm in Pike county, where both parents died. By her first marriage, to Mr. Roberts, Mrs. Whittaker had two children: Fred- erick G., born in Paterson, N. J., in 1871, and now a member of Troop M, 8th Cavalry, stationed at Puerto Principe, Cuba, and Elizabeth M., born in Wyoming, Penn., in 1873, now the wife of Allen Hudson, in the sanitary and plumbing business of his own, in New York city, and the mother of one child-Augusta L. Hudson. The marriage of our subject to Mrs. Roberts has been blessed with two children-Lillie May, and Sarah T. Lillie May was born in Pike county in 1878, was well edu- cated in the home schools and now holds a lucrative position as saleslady in the large wholesale store of Siegel & Cooper, on Sixth Avenue, New York. Sarah Teressa was born in Pike county in 1880, married Samuel R. Barr, of Virginia, now sales- man for Runkle Bros. Cocoa and Chocolate Co., New York, in which city they reside ; they have one daughter, Edith L. Barr.

In 1889 our subject purchased what is known as the Henry Shauler farm at Mountain Home. He made extensive improvements, building a large ad- dition to the dwelling house, erecting a bank barn 32x42 feet, and has so developed the property that it is now one of the well improved farms of Barrett township. He also owns a farm in Greene township, Pike county. His home in Barrett township is widely known as Pleasant View farm. For four years it has been thrown open during the summer months to visitors from the cities and many guests have found here the rest and recuperation which their busy urban life required. The home is one mile distant from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western road and a carriage meets all trains com- ing from Philadelphia and New York.

Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker are Protestant in re- ligious faith, and during his busy life he has found time to devote to active Christian work. He has done noble work in the Sunday schools, knowing the lasting effects of early teaching upon the human mind, and has been instrumental in starting the Sunday schools at German Valley and other points in Greene township. In politics he is a Democrat, and has held various local offices within the gift of his fellow-citizens. He is now serving as presi- dent of the school board. Mr. Whittaker has for thirty years been connected with the I. O. O. F., and is a member of the Mountain Home Lodge, No. 684.

JOHN MANLEY (deceased), who was for many years one of the highly respected and promi- nent citizens of Hawley, Wayne county, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, March 22, 1825, a son of Patrick and Catherine (Lynn) Manley, of that county, where the father engaged in farming until his death. In 1849 the mother, with three children, came to the United States, and in Hawley, Penn., . made her home until 1871, when she returned to her native land to spend her remaining days. Her children were Francis, who died in Tafton, Penn .; Barbara, who married Thomas Brown, and both died in Ireland; John; and Nellie, who married James Lynn, and died in Chicago, where her hus- band was employed on public works.

Upon the home farm in his native land, John Manley was reared, and came to America with his mother, locating in Hawley, where for thirteen years he was employed as night watchman by the Pennsylvania Coal Company. After the company removed their machine shops to Dunmore, he was engaged in coal mining for ten years, and in 1879 embarked in farming in Palmyra township, though he still continued to make his home in Hawley. As a farmer he met with excellent success and became quite well-to-do.

In Hawley, October 25, 1852, Mr. Manley married Miss Anna Bowland, Rev. Father Malone officiating. She was also a native of County Mayo, Ireland, born May 10, 1833, a daughter of William and Dora (Bowland) Bowland, who previous to their marriage were not related. Her father was a farmer in County Mayo, where he died, and in 1851, her mother, with two children, crossed the Atlantic, becoming residents of Hawley, where she died May 6, 1871, aged seventy-four years. Her children were Patrick, who died in Hawley ; Mary, who wedded Patrick Lynn and died in Pittston, Penn .; Robert, who died in Hawley; William, who went to California in 1854, and has never been heard from since; Anna, wife of our subject; and Christopher, who died in Hawley.

The record of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Manley is as follows: Catherine died at the age of one year and seven months; Anna P .; Prof. Patrick J. first married Dora Boland, of Hawley, and after her death wedded Mary C. Rutlidge, of

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Pittston (he is an attorney by profession, but is now serving as principal of the schools of Pitts- ton) ; Frances E. is the wife of Joseph Kenny, a railroad engineer living in Dunmore; William O. died at the age of eleven years; John C. married Elizabeth McCander, and is now employed as motorman on a car at Stapleton, N. Y .; James J. died at the age of fifteen years ; Joseph J. died at the age of nine months; Thomas J. died at the age of twenty-three years; Ella and Dora. The mother of these children was called to her final rest Sep- tember 10, 1893, and the father died February 19, 1895.

As an ardent Democrat, Mr. Manley took an active and prominent part in political affairs, and was a recognized leader of the party in his com- munity. He was honored with a number of local offices, serving in some official position most of the time, including the offices of supervisor, school director, tax collector and judge of elections. Like the other members of his family he was a communi- cant of the Catholic Church.

E. R. FOSTER, a highly esteemed citizen of Ararat township, Susquehanna county, is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war, whose devotion · to his country was tested not only by service on the field of battle, but in the still more deadly dan- gers of southern prisons. This gallant soldier en- listed in September, 1862, at Scranton, but was accredited to Honesdale, and assigned to Company C, 67th P. V. I. He enlisted for three years or during the war, and was mustered in at Harrisburg, Penn. He participated in the battles of Spottsyl- vania and Winchester, and in the latter engage- ment was taken prisoner. He was confined in Libby prison and Belle Isle for five months before being exchanged. Later he took part in the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Mine Run, and various other engagements, and was honorably discharged at Harrisburg in 1865.

Mr. Foster was born in Tioga county, Penn., in 1840, and is a son of George M. and Helen (Soper) Foster, natives of Delaware county, N. Y., who came to Pennsylvania at an early day. The father is now deceased, but the mother is still living and makes her home in Wisconsin. In their family were eight children; E. R., our subject; Mrs. Phebe Carpenter, a resident of Uniondale, Penn .; Archibald, of Ararat township, Susquehanna coun- ty; Elizabeth, who died in Kansas; Mrs. Laura Cheesebrough ; Louisa ; Carrie ; and Nelson, a resi- dent of Wisconsin.

E. R. Foster was twelve years of age when he left his native county and came to Ararat town- ship, Susquehanna county, where he has since made his home. He has always engaged in farming and now owns a good place of forty-seven acres, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation. In 1865, in Ararat township, he was united in marriage with Miss Jerusha Cottrell, a native of Bradford county, Penn., and a daughter of John and Mary

(Slocum) Cottrell, early settlers of Ararat town- ship, where they continued to reside until called from this life. Mr. Foster is an honored member of the Grand Army Post at Starrucca, and is a stalwart supporter of the Republican party and its principles.

OREON STAPLES RHODES, M. D., an able and successful physician of East Stroudsburg, is a member of a family which has been prominent in Monroe county from an early period. The first of the name came from Germany prior to the Revo- lutionary war, and, according to good authority, settled in Pennsylvania. The records of the early generations are unfortunately very meager, and although the great-great-great-grandfather of our subject was killed in the battle of Brandywine, his name is not now known.

Jacob Rhodes, son of this worthy patriot, was born and reared near Bethlehem, Penn., where he made his permanent home. He married and had several children.

Adam Rhodes, the second son of Jacob, was born on the homestead near Bethlehem, and re- mained there until his marriage to Catherine Bea- secker, a native of the same locality. Later he removed to what is now Hamilton township, Mon- roe (then Northampton) county, and purchased the place afterward known as the Williams farm. At that time it was only partially cleared, but Mr. Rhodes improved it, making a pleasant homestead. Late in life he sold the place and bought a smaller home, retiring from active business. His death occurred in 1846 at the home of his son, Jacob, in Stroud township, Monroe county, and his wife died in February, 1864, aged eighty-six years. They had nine children: Adam, Nancy, Abraham, John, Leah, Thomas W., Rachel, Jacob and Eliza.

Thomas W. Rhodes, our subject's grandfather, was born August 10, 1811, in Hamilton township, Monroe county, and his early educational advan- tages were limited to a few months of study each winter in the local schools. At the age of seven- teen he was apprenticed to George Keller, a car- penter, who lived on a farm afterward owned by Mr. Rhodes. On the expiration of his term of three years he began to work at the millwright's trade, and for nine years he was employed by Mr. Linton, being foreman for three years. He then engaged in business on his own account, keeping several companies of men busy building mills in Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, and in 1849 he took charge of the lumber business of Williams Brothers and John Comfort, with whom he remained six years. In 1855 he retired from both branches of business, but the habit of action was strong upon him and at times he would take contracts for the erection of important buildings or assist in corporate enter- prises. He built the Stroudsburg Bank building in 1858, the Stroudsburg woolen mills in 1865, and in 1869 he built the Lutheran Church at Strouds- burg. In 1856 he helped to reorganize the Strouds-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

burg Bank, of which he remained a director for many years, and in 1865 he became a director in the Stroudsburg Woolen Mill Company, being elected president three years later. In 1845 he became identified with the Monroe Mutual Fire Insurance Co., in which he served many years as director, manager and surveyor. In religious work he was active as a member of the Lutheran Church, holding office as elder, deacon and trustee, and politically he was a stanch Republican and at different times held official positions in his township. During the Civil war he was appointed three times on a committee to fill the quota of men for his township, and on one occasion he accepted this difficult task reluctantly after others had tried and failed in the work, but in every instance he was successful, his skill and energy overcoming every difficulty. His death oc- curred January 25, 1891, at the home which he had purchased in 1833 and beautified by years of care. On January 14, 1836, he married Miss Mary Ann Heller, who was born March 5, 1818, daughter of Solomon and Mary ( Beninger) Heller. She died January 4, 1853, and on July 5, 1853, he married Miss Catherine Keller, who was born December 24, 1822, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth ( Heller ) Keller, and granddaughter of Joseph and Mary (Andrews) Keller. By his first marriage he had eight children : Sydenham H., born April 18, 1837 ; Charles L., our subject's father ; Merion W., born April 1, 1841 ; Ellen A., born January 6, 1843, died April 4, 1845; Edward H., born January 23, 1845; George H., born January 13, 1847, died April 4, 1881 ; Martha S., born July 9, 1849; and Johnson G., born October 7, 1851. By the second union there were six children, born as follows: Steward T., June 3, 1854 ; Erwin J., August 29, 1856; Mary M. and Jennie L., April 9, 1860; Anna C., January 10, 1863 ; Mildred F., May 5, 1866.

Charles L. Rhodes was born May 23, 1839, in Cherry Valley, Monroe county, where he grew to manhood, learning the trade of carpenter and builder. He engaged in the lumber business, and for many years was identified with the Strouds- burg Lumber Co., but he retired some time ago. He is an active worker in the M. E. Church in his locality, and in politics he is a firm supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He married Miss Mary Staples, and they had two children: Oreon Staples, our subject, and Clare, wife of W. B. Eilenberger, an attorney.

Oreon S. Rhodes was born in Stroudsburg, January 31, 1863. After completing a course of study in Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Penn., he went West and spent three years in travel, chiefly in the Rocky Mountain region. On his return he began the study of medicine with a Stroudsburg physician as his preceptor, and later he pursued a course in the Medical Department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1889. He located first in Wilkesbarre, and after eighteen months removed to Harrisburg, Penn., where he acquired a large practice and remained two and a

half years. At this period his wife's health de- manded a change of climate, and at the solicitation of friends he came to East Stroudsburg to practice among the acquaintances of his early days. Here he has won an excellent reputation in his profession, and his now lucrative practice is constantly growing as the years pass by. Doctor Rhodes is a man of fine personal appearance, and his mental gifts are of a high order. In 1887 he married Miss Ellen Kings, and both are popular in the social life of their city. The Doctor is a member of the Episcopal Church, and of various fraternal orders, including the P. O. S. A., the B. P. O. E., and the Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania, while professionally he is connected with the Lehigh Val- ley Medical Association.

JOSHUA BOYD, a well-known merchant and the popular postmaster of Franklin Forks, Sus- quehanna county, has been prominently identified with the commercial interests of that place for al- most thirty years. As a business man he has been enterprising, energetic and always abreast of the times, and due success has not been denied him.

Mr. Boyd was born at Mt. Hope, Orange Co., N. Y., January 19, 1833, a son of Freegift and Lucretia (Tompkins) Boyd, also natives of that. county, who came to Susquehanna county, Penn., in 1845, and located near Montrose in Bridgewater township. The father, who was a prominent farmer of his community, died in 1881, aged eighty years, the mother in 1882, aged seventy-eight years, and the remains of both were interred in Franklin Forks cemetery. Religiously they were sincere and faith- ful members of the Presbyterian Church. The chil- dren born to them were as follows: Adelaide, who died unmarried ; Joshua ; Mary, wife of L. O. Smith, a carpenter of Binghamton, N. Y .; John, a grocer of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Caroline, widow of William Burrow, of Franklin township; and Frances, a resident of Newburg, N. Y.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 369

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