Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 392

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 392
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 392
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 392
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 392

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In Hawley, December 20, 1871, Mr. Ammerman was married, by Rev. N. S. Reynolds, to Miss Jane Ann Snyder, and to them were born three chil- dren: Cora, at home; Roy, who is in Carbondale with the hardware and novelty firm of Maldfeld, Purdy & Co .; and Carl, at home. The wife and mother was born in Carbondale, Penn., August II, 1847, and died October 24, 1897, honored and re- spected by all who knew her.

Abraham Snyder (Mrs. Ammerman's father) was born in Greenfield, Luzerne Co., Penn., De- cember 20, 1819, a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Knei- ford) Snyder, natives of New York, who died in Luzerne county, Penn., where his father engaged in farming. In 1848 Abraham Snyder removed to Hawley, where he first worked at the cabinet mak- er's trade, and later served as superintendent in the Pennsylvania car shops. Here he died September 5, 1863, and was laid to rest in the Hawley cem- etery. He was one of the prominent men of his community, was a Republican in politics, and was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was married in Carbondale, Penn., September 14, 1842, to Miss Jane A. Womelsdorf,

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who was born in Reading, Penn., December 25, 1820, a daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Fryer) Womels- dorf. Her father, who was an iron forger, died at Nanticoke, Penn. To Abraham and Jane A. Sny- der were born the following children: Frances E., born May 22, 1843, is the wife of Dighton Daniels, a clerk for the Erie Railroad Co. in Hawley ; Emma R., born May 5, 1845, is the wife of Samuel K. Dodd, a carpenter and builder ; Jane A. was the wife of our subject ; Abraham R., born February 19, 1851, is a railroad conductor living in Dunmore, Penn .; Helen, born February 4, 1853. is the wife of W. A. Gregg, a merchant of Hawley; Myron T., born August 2, 1855, is a druggist of Hawley; Samuel W., born December 25. 1857, died July 3, 1863; and Mary E., born October 18, 1861, lives with her mother in Hawley.

JOSHUA W. CORWIN, a well-known con- ductor on the Erie railroad residing at Matamoras, Pike county, is a native of New York State, born near Middletown, at Wallkill, May 6, 1849, and is a worthy representative of an old and highly-re- spected family of Orange county. The grandfa- ther, Joshua Corwin, was born at Otisville, Orange county, and for many years engaged in farming and lumbering in Pike county, Penn. He died in February, 1874, at the age of eighty-eight years. He was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Mapes, and his second a Miss Smith.

A. Corwin, the father of our subject, was born of the second union, at or near Otisville, Orange county, and there grew to manhood. He was a soldier of the Union army during the Civil war, and was shot through the body. Though he lived some ten or twelve years after his discharge, he died from the effects of his wound. After the war closed he traveled extensively through the West, and died at the age of sixty-eight years. He wedded Miss Mary Cogdale, also a native of Orange county, N. Y., and they became the parents of three sons: Sylves- ter S., who served for twenty-five years in the reg- ular army, and died in Orange county, in June, 1897; Joshua W., of this sketch; and Theodore R., also an employe of the Erie Railroad Co., who mar- ried Clara Kerkendaugh (now deceased), and re- sides in Port Jervis, New York.

When a mere child Joshua W. Corwin had to provide for himself, and this he managed to do by assisting the neighboring farmers. At the age of twenty-three he learned the painter's trade, which he followed for about seven years, and in June, 1874, secured employment with the Erie Railroad Co., with which he has since been connected, his serv- ices having proved eminently satisfactory in every respect. In due time he was promoted to the posi- tion of conductor, which he has now filled for eighteen years. He is an honored member of the Order of Railway Conductors, and for twenty-one years was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while politically he is identified with the Republican party.

At Middletown, N. Y., May 7, 1873, Mr. Cor- win was united in marriage with Miss Rose A. Hill, a daughter of John W. and Mary (Conklin) Hill, the former a native of Rockland county, N. Y. Mrs. Corwin was born in that county, in February, 1856, and died at Matamoras, Penn., October 24, 1889. Five children blessed this union: William J., born in Port Jervis, N. Y., February 13, 1874, died at the age of four years; Ida May, born in Port Jervis, February 17, 1878, is living in Westfall township, Pike Co., Penn .; and Roy C., born May 7, 1880, Floyd A., born January 21, 1886, and Frank Leon, born March 14, 1888, are all at home.

HORATIO FRANKLIN NICHOLSON, the genial and popular landlord of the hotel at Hamlin- ton, Salem township, Wayne county, where he has dispensed a generous hospitality for years, is the representative in both paternal and maternal lines of an ancestry for a hundred years identified with the growth and development of Wayne county.

Francis Nicholson, his great-grandfather, of Glastonbury, Conn., a patriot of the Revolution, in February, 1800, moved to Salem township, Wayne county, settling one mile west of Salem, Conn., on the east and west road. He had married Rachel Loveland, and to them came the following chil- dren: Edmund married a daughter of Josiah Cur- tis, and lived near Hamilton; Jonathan L .; Mynis ; Polly ; Cleora ; Zenas is referred to farther on; and Ambrose married Minerva Fish, and for many years resided on the homestead.

Zenas Nicholson, grandfather of Horatio F., was born on the old homestead in Salem township, and was there reared. He became by trade and occu- pation a carpenter and millwright. In 1830 he left the farm and went to Hamlinton. He was twice married, marrying two sisters; his first wife was Mary Goodrich, and their only child was Horatio W., who became a lawyer and practiced at Wilkes Barre, Penn. By his second marriage, this time to Nancy Goodrich, his children were: Seth G. is re- ferred to farther on; G. Byron (now deceased) was a lawyer at Wilkes Barre; Mary E. is the widow of John. Leonard; J. Milton died at Kings- ton, Penn., at the age of seventy-one years ; Lyman, an officer in the Federal army during the Civil war, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; Oscar, a lawyer at Wilkes Barre, Penn., died in 1896; Ann Amelia is the wife of a minister in Iowa; Marion died when twelve years of age; and Emeline is the wife of G. W. Simons, of Hamlinton.

Seth G. Nicholson, the father of our subject, was born October 24, 1820, in the house now ( 1898) owned by Elmer Nash about one mile west of Ham- linton. In boyhood he evinced a desire to become a merchant, in view of which he began clerking in the store of the late Judge Hamlin, at Hamlinton, re- maining with him until 1845. He then accepted the position of deputy prothonotary under the late P. G. Goodrich, who held the office at that time. While in the office he devoted his leisure time to reading

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Shakespeare, and at the end of three years could quote entire plays. Seth still had a desire to enter the mercantile business, and in 1848 went to Sterling and fitted up a store and commenced selling goods. He was quite successful in his new enterprise, and on March 7, 1850, he married Mary Ann Bortree. In the spring of 1852 he came to Salem Corners and for a term of years occupied the store of the late John Raymond. In 1854-55 he built a store now owned and occupied by G. W. Simons. In 1860 he was elected justice of the peace, and, possessing considerable legal ability, made an excellent officer. About the year 1870 he accepted the position of bookkeeper for Morss & Co., at Ledgedale, Penn., where he remained three years, and then accepted a similar position at the Middle Valley Tannery, Clemo, Penn. He was an excellent business man, very precise, and whatever he did was done cor- rectly. After an absence of twenty-eight years he returned to Sterling and bought a farm of George W. Simons, and turned his attention to farming. In 1876 he was elected justice of the peace, an of- fice he held at the time of his death. Some two years prior to his death he had a stroke of paralysis, which caused his death, September 1, 1884. He was identified with the Masonic Fraternity.

To the marriage of Seth G. Nicholson and Mary Ann Bortree were born children as follows: Marion E., born August II, 1851, married, Sep- tember 10, 1878, Ira K. Kellam, of Ledgedale, Penn. ; Horatio F., our subject, is referred to farther on; Rhoda Amelia, born August 28, 1855, died March 8, 1856; and Rhoda E., born December 13, 1857, married Olin H. Wolfe, of Pike county, Penn. The mother of this family was born in Philadelphia, November 1, 1821, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Starbird) Bortree, and died August 22, 1889. Robert Bortree, the father of William, came from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1801, and in about 1806 settled in what was formerly East Sterling township, Wayne county. He built a gristmill in 1812, on Bortree creek. His children were : William, John, Edward, Thomas, and Robert. William settled a quarter of a mile northeast of the Bortree Church; his children were: Charles, Mary Ann, Samuel, and Daniel.

Mrs. Seth G. Nicholson on her mother's side descended from Col. Jacob Stroud, a conspicuous figure in incidents connected with the war of the Revolution and the founding of Stroudsburg, the Colonel being her great-grandfather. Going back a little in the family history, we note that the home of many of the name was at Stroud in Gloucester- shire, England, and it was from that borough, in the beautiful at the confluence of the Frome and Slade, which unite to form the Stroudwater, that Bernard Stroud, the progenitor of the race in this country, was born. When but five years old he came across the Atlantic in the early part of the last century. At a very tender age he lost his parents. During his youth and early manhood he resided near Amwell, Hunterdon Co., N. J. He married Keziah Harker,

and later moved to Northampton county, Penn., where they purchased a farm and passed their re- maining days. Of their children Jacob was born January 15, 1735, at Amwell, N. J. Soon after be- coming of age, the French and Indian war having begun, he enlisted for five years in the English serv- ice. Three of his brothers also entered the pro- visional army for a like period. The Strouds were accustomed to arrange a place of meeting after each battle. Jacob used to relate that after a severe engagement, he went as usual, to the rendezvous, when but two of his brothers met him, and how in the clear moonlight they sadly sought and found the missing one among the slain. In August, 1757, Jacob Stroud formed one of the garrison at Fort William Henry on Lake George, In the taking of Quebec, September 13, 1759, Jacob Stroud was found at his post when they scaled the Heights of Abraham and landed on the plains above. Col. Stroud was near Gen. Wolfe when he fell, and assist- ed in carrying him behind the rocks. After the war Jacob Stroud returned to the home of his boyhood, and in less than three months, April 16, 1761, he married Elizabeth Macdowel, then not quite eighteen, who was a daughter of John and Hannah (Depui) Macdowel. On July 8, 1776, Jacob Stroud was elected a member of the Convention to form the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, which indicated that he was a decided Whig from the be- ginning, as this was only four days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He attended the first meeting, July 15, 1776, held at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. During the Revolution he was stationed as commanding officer at Fort Penn, the remnants of which stood on the hill at the lower end of the town of Stroudsburg, until the great freshet of 1862 carried it away. After the close of the war he served several years from the county as representative in the House. In his legislative career, as in everything which he undertook, he showed much exemplary punctuality and diligence.

As a middle-aged man Jacob Stroud occupied as a residence, old Fort Penn. A half-mile distant, and some twenty years older, was Fort Hamilton, near which was erected, in 1795, a large roomy stone mansion for John Stroud, eldest son of Col. Jacob Stroud, and between the two was placed a frame dwelling, which stood in what is now the center of the town, nearly opposite the present "Burnett House." These formed a nucleus for building, and gradually a flourishing settlement ap- peared, and the town of Stroudsburg was founded. Jacob Stroud's death occurred July 14, 1806, and his wife passed away May 5, 1811. Of their eleven chil- dren, Hannah married John Starbird, and their daughter Elizabeth married William Bortree. The latter couple were the parents of Mrs. Seth G. Nicholson.

John Starbird, just mentioned, was born March 25, 1754, at Brunswick, Maine. He left home when the call "To Arms" was uttered on behalf of the Continental troops, and, having enlisted, served

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throughout the war of the Revolution, was wounded and afterward mustered out when the necessity of patriotic services in the field had ended. He went to Trenton, N. J., and taught school for a time; from there he went to Easton, Penn., and there taught school, then located at Stroudsburg, where he mar- ried Hannah Stroud, who was born October 10, 1763, and who bore him the following children : Jacob, John, Elizabeth, William, Daniel Peter, and Franklin. He was a man of considerable education ; was engaged in farming. His death occurred De- cember 14, 1839, his wife surviving him until May 4, 1845.

Horatio Franklin Nicholson, the subject proper of this sketch, was born May II, 1854, at Hamlin- ton, Wayne county ; until eighteen years of age he remained at home, three years of which time he was employed in teaming for the Middle Valley Tannery. He saved his money and used it in attending Wyom- ing Seminary. He was graduated from College June 8, 1876. After this he clerked one year in a store at Gouldsboro, Penn., for S. H. Rhodes. He then purchased a farm in Sterling township, Wayne county, and for five years led an agricultural life. After that experience he moved to Laanna, Penn., where he engaged in lumbering and keeping board- ers. He purchased land at that point and resided there some twelve years, and in May, 1884, came to Hamlinton and became engaged in the hotel busi- ness, purchasing his present stand from George Hamlin. He also conducts a livery stable in con- nection with the hotel. Mr. Nicholson is a man of intelligence, received a liberal education and is a well-informed man, keeping up with the current issues of the day. He is enterprising and public spirited and is one of the respected citizens of Ham- linton. For three years past he has been auditor of the town ; had served one year as clerk of Sterl- ing township, and three years as school director. While in Pike county he served seven years as a justice of the peace. He is a good business man and has conducted the hotel in a successful and com- mendable manner. He is a "hail fellow well met" and an entertaining landlord as well as a first-class one in the direction of the more "substantial" side of the business. He is a good conversationalist, enjoys hunting and fishing, and therefore good company, and a royal entertainer to those of his visitors who enjoy these sports.

On May 24, 1882, our subject was married to Miss Emma J. Houck and their marriage has been blessed by the birth of one child, Laanna, May 9, 1884. The mother was born February 10, 1854, a daughter of Nathan Houck, who for many years has been largely identified with the lumber interests of this section of the county, with residence in Pike county.

CHARLIE C. HAWK (deceased) was one of the most extensive fruit growers and prominent citi- zens of Sterling township, Wayne county, and spent his entire life on the old Hawk homestead, where his

birth occurred July 8, 1861. His parents, William W. and Catherine ( Raub) Hawk, were natives of War- ren county, where they were married December 4, 1847. The first two years of their wedded life they spent in Columbus, N. J., and then came to Wayne county, Penn., where they lived for a year with Mr. Hawk's sister, Mrs. Jacob France, in Salem township. Going to Drinkers, Lackawanna Co., Penn., he contracted to build the tresstle over the Wilber swamp for the Pennsylvania Coal Company, and when that was completed he removed to the present home of our subject in Sterling township, Wayne county. Here he purchased 180 acres from the old Torey estate, and to its cultivation and im- provement devoted his energies until life's labors were over. He died February 9, 1889, at the age of seventy-one years, and was laid to rest in the Hones- dale cemetery. By trade he was a carpenter and builder and erected all the buildings upon his farm. He was one of the leading and influential citizens of his community, but never an office seeker. Since the age of twenty-five years he had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his life was ever in harmony with his professions. His estimable wife, who was born January 19, 1827, made her home with her son Charlie, until his death. They were the parents of four children, namely : John E., born May 27, 1853, died December 4, 1853 ; Elba E., born May 14, 1856, is the wife of George E. Swartz, of Dunmore, Penn., an engineer on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad; William A., born May 20, 1858, died June 25, 1872; and Charlie C. completes the family.

Reared on the home farm, Charlie C. Hawk early became familiar with all branches of agricult- ure and also obtained a thorough knowledge of lum- bering, to which he devoted considerable attention. However, at the last, he gave a greater part of his time and attention to fruit culture, and met wih ex- cellent success in this branch of his business, his farm becoming one of the finest fruit farms in northeast- ern Pennsylvania. Upon the place he had 400 apple and 150 peach trees besides many other varieties of fruits. Annually he raised from one to three thou- sand bushels of apples and pears, and twenty bushels of cherries, for which he found a ready sale at $4 per bushel. He also raised gooseberries in abund- ance.

In Sterling township, June 30, 1888, Mr. Hawk was married, to Miss Lillie Musgrave, the ceremony being performed by Rev. R. B. Billows, a Methodist Protestant minister. They now have two children : Floyd W., born July 16, 1890; and Edna W., born May 31, 1893. Mrs. Hawk is also a native of Ster- ling township, born May 14, 1868, and is a daughter of James and Jane (Rawlston) Musgrave, the form- er a native of Philadelphia, and the latter of Scot- land. For many years the father was actively iden- tified with the agricultural interests of Wayne coun- ty, and having prospered in his undertaking he is now enabled to live retired, enjoying the fruits of his former toil. His sketch can be found on another

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page of this volume. His children are as follows: Mary, wife of James McGuire, a railroad engineer of Amboy, Penn .; Andrew, who died at the age of five years ; Margaret M., wife of Reuben Malson, a farmer of Sterling township; Isabella, who died when young ; Elizabeth, widow of James Thompson, and a resident of Amboy, Penn .; William, who wed- ded Mary Lewis and is a railroad man of Dunmore, Penn .; Henry, who married Maggie Paul, and is a railroad engineer of Jersey City, N. J .; Emily, de- ceased wife of Otto Snyder, of Amboy, Penn .; Thomas R., who married Mary E. Reed, now de- ceased; Walter, who married Elizabeth Spangen- berg, and is a farmer of Sterling township; and Lil- lie, widow of our subject.

Socially Mr. Hawk affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Patriotic Or- der Sons of America No. 959, both of Nobletown, and religiously was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, of which his widow is also a consist- ent member. He always cast his ballot in support of the Republican party, and had most efficiently served as school director for three years. As a citi- zen, friend and neighbor, he was worthy of the high regard in which he was held, and his early death caused genuine grief throughout his wide circle of friends.

JOSEPH A. WILKIN, engineer, residence Matamoras, Pike county, Pennsylvania.

JAMES M. WESTFALL, of New Milford town- ship, Susquehanna county, is a successful business man, and after years in the lumber and sawmill in- terest he has turned his attention exclusively to the ancient and honorable calling of agriculture.

Mr. Westfall comes of good pioneer stock, as his paternal grandparents, John and Jennie Westfall, came from Dutchess county, N. Y., at an early day and settled upon a tract of 1,000 acres across the river from the city of Susquehanna. They were the parents of the following: Elijah, Jennie (who mar- ried William Greek), Daniel, James, Katie, John and Livia. Elijah Westfall, our subject's father, was born in Broome county, N. Y., and his wife, Martha J. (Sleighter), was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y. He came to Susquehanna county in 1820, locat- ing in Harmony township, opposite what is now Lanesboro, where he followed the cooper's trade in connection with farming. The present village of Oakland stands upon a portion of his old farm, and a street was named Westfall avenue in hon- or of the family. He died August 8, 1867, aged seventy-seven years; his wife died Janu- ary 1, 1871, at the age of sixty-seven, and their remains were interred in McCune's Cemetery. Of their four children, the eldest, Caroline married Charles Tompkins, and died May 10, 1893 ; James M. was second in the order of birth; Isabella, widow of John Gregory, resides in Idaho; and M. Lafayetta died at the age of nineteen.

Our subject was born August 31, 1833, at the

present site of Oakland borough, and was trained to industrious habits in his youth, being set to work at his father's cooper shop when fourteen years old and continuing six years. At the age of twenty-one he left home, and for some time worked at his trade in Oakland and New Milford township, and in 1863 he entered the Union army, where he served as fore- man of a construction corps until the close of the war. He then settled upon his present homestead, but much of his time was given to conducting a saw- mill until 1890, when he retired from that business. Mr. Westfall has always been prominent in local affairs and in the Grange, and for two years he has been a member of the Presbyterian Church at New Milford. Politically he is a strong Democrat, as are all his relatives, and he has served seven years as school director and three years as supervisor. He has been prominent in the Grange, being overseer two years and trustee one year. On July 4, 1855, he was married at Lanesboro to Miss Olive J. Keach, and two children have blessed the union : ( I) Charles V. is a railway engineer residing in Buffalo, N. Y .; he married Miss Ida Van Marter, and has two chil- dren, Ernest and Lafayette. (2) Madge Eva mar- ried Edward Ott, of Buffalo, N. Y., a railway en- gineer.

Mrs. Olive (Keach) Westfall, whose efficient aid has done much to promote her husband's success, was born September 13, 1836, at the present site of Hallstead, Penn. Her paternal grandparents, Will- iam and Martha Keach, were residents of Connect- icut, and the grandfather was a painter by trade. Harvey W. Keach, Mrs. Westfall's father, a native of Windham county, Conn., came to this State about 1825, locating first at New Milford and later at Great Bend. By occupation he was a carpenter, and as a citizen he was highly esteemed, his sound judg- ment giving him much influence in the local Demo- cratic organization. He died August 28, 1874, at the age of sixty-seven, and his remains rest in the ceme- tery at Hallstead. He was married at Montrose to Miss Ann E. Bennett, who died July II, 1884, aged seventy years. Her parents, Asa and Ann Bennett, came from Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1813, and set- tled on a farm near Corbettsville. Mr. and Mrs. Keach had the following children: Mary, who died in childhood ; Andrew J., a carpenter at Binghamton, N. Y .; Olive J. (Mrs. Westfall) ; Cynthia A., who married William Stevens, and died in 1898; John H., an engineer, who was killed in 1896 by a boiler explosion ; George L., a railroad engineer residing at Lyons, N. Y. ; James M., a railway engineer, who re- sides in Buffalo, N. Y .; and Emma, who died in childhood.

REUBEN SIEG. The man who was content to go through the Civil war as a "high private," doing his duty nobly and unflinchingly on the field of battle or in camp, is to-day one of the most highly respected and honored citizens of Newfoundland, Wayne county. As a blacksmith and farmer, he was for many years actively identified with the business

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 392

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