Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 49

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 49
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 49
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 49
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 49

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In 1880, after successfully passing an examina- tion, our subject entered the Theological Reformed Institute at Lancaster, and upon the completion of the course was graduated, May 10, 1883. In July, 1883, he accepted a call to the Tannersville, Mon-

roe Co., Penn., charge, Reformed Church, con- sisting of four congregations, Tannersville, Para- dise, Tompkinsville and Jackson. He remained there two years and three months, and on October I, 1885, accepted his present charge, Pleasant Val- ley, comprising part of the old Brodheadsville charge, and consisting of three congregations- Pleasant Valley, Jerusalem and Effort. To these charges Rev. Mr. Smith added many members by confirmation, increasing the membership nearly one- hundred fold. In his present charge he has con- firmed four hundred.

Rev. Mr. Smith was married, in October, 1883, at Reading, Penn., to Miss Maggie R. Alt, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Alt, of Lancaster, Penn. She was a niece of the late Rev. John Alt, a prom- inent Reformed Church minister, and a cousin of Mary B. (Alt) Hoy, wife of Rev. W. H. Hoy, both of whom were missionaries to Japan. Mrs. Smith died in September, 1887, aged twenty-seven years, and is buried six miles east of Lancaster, Penn. Rev. Mr. Smith was again married, December II, 1888, his second wife being Angeline ( Hoodmacher ) Shupp, daughter of Edward and Margaret ( Green- amoyer ) Hoodmacher, of Monroe county. Edward Hoodmacher was a blacksmith by trade, and one of the most prominent men of the county. He pos- sessed a rare judicial mind, served many years as justice of the peace, and was elected to the office of county commissioner.

Rev. Mr. Smith is the founder of the Poly- technic Institute of Gilberts (Pleasant Valley ), Penn., which was established in 1886, and has be- come a great educational factor in this part of Penn- sylvania. The institution has three courses of study-Academic, College Preparatory, and Nor- mal. Our subject is president of the board of di- rectors, and is professor of German and Moral Sci- ence. For three years he resided at Gilberts, but for the past eleven years has made his home at Ef- fort, where he owns a good farm, operated under his management in a modern and highly successful manner. Rev. Mr. Smith is one of the most active and influential citizens of Monroe county, and is making a lasting and stimulating impression upon the mental and moral character of its people.

HARRY E. FISHER, proprietor of "Monroe Cottage," a popular summer hotel two and one- half miles from East Stroudsburg, Monroe county, is a young man whose energies and abilities are worthy of note, and his judicious management has won the appreciation of a large number of guests who annually sojourn in the restful atmosphere of the "Cottage."

Mr. Fisher was born August 12, 1861, in Stroud township, Monroe county, where his family have long been prominent. Philip Fisher, his grandfa- ther, came from Holland, and settled first near Phillipsburg, N. J., but in 1827 he removed to Mon- roe county, where his remaining years were spent. This worthy pioneer was a blacksmith by trade,

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and for many years he conducted a shop on the old road between Stroudsburg and Spragueville. He also opened an old-time "road-house," which he carried on until the completion of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, when it was aban- doned. His death occurred at the present homestead February 2, 1868, when he was aged seventy years. By his first wife, a Miss Metz, he had the following children : John, George, Theodore, Elizabeth, Henry, and James S. He married ( second) Mrs. Jane ( Bush) Herring, who died August 17, 1872, and one child was born of the union, Elijah, who died June 19, 1875. By her first marriage, to Dr. Her- ring, Mrs. Jane Fisher had two children : Dr. James Herring, and Sallie, wife of A. Felix.

James S. Fisher, our subject's father, was born in Stroud township, Monroe county, December 25, 1832, and received his early education at the Pos- ten school house, and the academy at Strouds- burg. He taught school several terms, and then clerked for a time for Richard Staples, of Strouds- burg. Later he opened a store on the old home- stead, and for a few years, while the railroad was in progress of construction, he conducted the hotel on the old homestead in Stroud, in partnership with his brother Henry. On disposing of the hotel he removed from the old home farm, while Henry settled in Bradford, to which vicinity our subject's father also removed about 1854, and for about two years he followed farming there. Three years he spent at Laceyville, in mercantile business, and for one year in droving cattle and sheep, after which he returned to the old homestead for one year. While there he built the first store ever erected in East Stroudsburg, and on selling out he purchased a farm above Stroudsburg, which he operated for a year ; then he purchased the store he had built of Thomas Stempes, in partnership with William Fine, run it for one year, lived one year at leisure, and then pur- chased the old homestead, upon which he made many improvements, all the buildings being put up by him. In 1875 he opened "Monroe Cottage," which soon became a favorite resort for summer tourists. About three years ago he leased the place to our subject and removed to East Stroudsburg. In March, 1897, he went to Phillipsburg to engage with the Glass Manufacturing Co., of which he became treasurer for one year. Returning to Strouds- burg he was elected sheriff of Monroe county, for a second term, which office he is now filling. Politi- cally he is a Democrat, and he has frequently been chosen to office, having served as justice of peace from 1869 to 1884, and again from 1895 to 1897. In 1884 he was elected sheriff of Monroe county, and during his term our subject had charge of the "Cot- tage." In religious faith Mr. Fisher is a Methodist. He married Miss Ellen Ramsbery, who was born December 5, 1833, daughter of John Ramsbery, and died February 21, 1895. Of their five children ( I) Lizzie, born July 22, 1855, died August 17, 1860. (2) Bengerman is second in the family. (3) Harry E. is mentioned more fully below. (4) Flora, born

December 5, 1865, married Jerome W. Kintner, of Dover, N. J., and has had two children, Earl J. . and Mabel. (5) Anna May, born November 28, 1869, married W. Truescott, of Phillipsburg, and has one son Frank.

Our subject's education was begun in the dis- trict schools near his home, and later he attended the Stroudsburg Academy for a term, and also took a course in a business college at Poughkeep- sie, N. Y. He taught successfully for three terms in a public school, and then engaged in agriculture in connection with his work as a blacksmith and carpenter. For ten years he had charge of the old home farm, and for three years he has conducted the "Cottage," both enterprises being carried on with equal success. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, but he does not aspire to official honors. On January 19, 1887, he married Miss Hattie Bush, who was born January 12, 1866. They are prominent socially, and are both active members of the Presbyterian Church at East Stroudsburg.

HON. LAFAYETTE FITCH, late a distin- guished member of the Susquehanna County Bar and a resident of Montrose, where for forty years he was a useful and valued citizen, was born Au- gust 9, 1825, at Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., son of Stephen and Alta (Sheldon) Fitch, farming people of that locality.

On the death of his mother, when he was . twelve years of age, our subject came to Montrose and made his home with his sister, who was the wife of the late Judge Benjamin S. Bentley, of Williamsport, then a practicing lawyer at Mont- rose. Young Fitch attended the village Academy, and being of a studious turn applied himself dili- gently, and was soon prepared to teach. Later he taught in the free schools of Montrose and in the district schools of the vicinity, studied law in the office and under the direction of Mr. Bentley, and was admitted to the Bar in Susquehanna county on August 21, 1848. After his admission to the Bar he became associated in the practice of law with Mr. Bentley, and they continued together un- til the latter's removal to Williamsport, Penn., in October, 1866. From that time until his death, on May 17, 1877, Mr. Fitch with little exception was alone in the practice, the exception being when associated for a time with a former pupil, W. W. Watson (afterward State Senator from Susque- hanna and Wayne counties), under the firm name of Fitch & Watson. In 1871 Mr. Fitch was elect- ed State Senator from the district embracing the counties of Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming, and as such served his constituents so efficiently and ably that on the expiration of the three-years' term for which he was chosen he was proffered the nom- ination the second time, but declined, and was suc- ceeded to the position by his law partner, Mr. Watson.

During the Civil war Mr. Fitch was a strong supporter of the Union, though he was not a soldier

Eng ª by AH Ritchie

I. F. Fetele

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

himself. However, he was first lieutenant of a home company, and in 1863, on the invasion of Pennsylvania by the army of Gen. Lee, he respond- ed to the call and went with the emergency men, who were returned without seeing active service. At the close of the war Mr. Fitch greatly interested himself in assisting the widows and orphans of soldiers in securing pensions. He was a Chris- tian gentleman, and in early life was interested in religious matters and active in Sunday-school work. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of Montrose at the time of his death. His life and character are beautifully shown in the very appro- priate resolutions adopted by the different organi- zations of which he was an honored member, and in the press of Montrose, from some of which the following extracts are taken. As stated, Mr. Fitch died May 17, 1877. On May 21, of that year, the Montrose Independent said editorially :

The late Mr. Fitch was a man of sterling integrity, whether as a citizen, a lawyer, a statesman or a Christian. In the dignified retirement of his late years, he ever mani- fested an eminent example of modest, latent, substantial learning, and unpretending wisdom, with exceedingly affa- ble manners, strong social affections, absolute fidelity in every relation of life, and probity beyond the slightest suspicion of reproach, as rarely adorns even the highest walks of professional excellence. His public services in . political life were both useful and incorruptible. His sen- atorial career at Harrisburg was earnest, beneficial and patriotic. The members of the Bar of this county have lost a companion who was an honor to his profession, a model to themselves and an example of virtue and excellence to all. Mr. Fitch was a man of ardent feeling and of ingenuous temperament. He was strong in his attachments to true men and to opinions, and was not easily turned from any course of speculation or action which he had once satisfied himself was right. He assumed no superiority on the ground of his intellectual attainments, but placed him- self on a level with every one with whom he had any concern. He was ever a conscientious man, and was always true to his moral as well as intellectual convictions, and fol- lowed them whithersoever they led him. His straightfor- wardness and frankness were among the secret causes of the remarkable influence which he confessedly exercised over the minds and judgments of others. By his honesty, as well as by his resolution and decision, he was the main- spring of everything with which he was connected. By this moral influence he controlled and swayed all men with whom he was associated. As Ben Johnson says of Lord Bacon, "he commanded where he spoke." He has left an example full of instruction and encouragement to the young men of the county, and especially to those of the legal pro- fession. He has shown them to what heights of greatness and usefu ness they may ascend by truth, temperance and toil. He has left to all a most glorious and precious legacy in his example of integrity, moral courage and independ- ence. He has taught the young men that there is nothing so grand and beautiful as moral principle, nothing so sub- lime as adherence to truth, and nothing so advantageous as integrity, pursued through all circumstances, adverse or pro- pitious. He was buried as he had lived, without parade or show. He has built his own monument, more enduring than marble, and his beautiful life, and his true and affec- tionate character, have bequeathed to his family the richest legacy. Many will commend his understanding. His me- morial shall not depart away, and his name shall live through future generations only to be revered and spoken of with affectionate tenderness.

At a meeting of the Bar Association, held to take suitable action on the death of Mr. Fitch, the following resolutions were adopted : -

Rexolred, That the Bar of Susquehanna county have heard with feelings of unfeigned sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. L. F. Fitch, one of our old, honored and active members.

That in the death of Mr. Fitch, the Bar recognized the loss of an able lawyer, an active, energetic and useful mem- ber of society, and a Christian gentleman.

That his career as a lawyer, State Senator and citizen was marked by dignity, purity of character and the highest integrity.

That by his death the Bar have lost an associate whose many excellent qualities of mind and heart have gained for him the respect and affection of his professional brethren.

The Montrose Democrat editorially said :

In the death of Mr. Fitch our community and the coun- ty loses another of its honored and highly respected citizens. We have known him personally but a few years, but in that time we had come to highly esteem and respect him for the many good qualities which he possessed. His pleasant, affable manner and genial disposition, made him one whom it was always pleasant to meet, and his interest in education religion and the good morals of society, and his worthy ex- ample as well as excellent precepts, will cause him to be greatly missed, and will leave a vacancy that it will not be easy to fill. Mr. Fitch has been honored by preferment in several different ways by the people of this county, having also been a member of the State Senate for one term. As a member of the Bar of this county he maintained a high standing and the unanimous expression of the legal frater- nity by resolutions of respect at a special meeting that ap- pears elsewhere show the great regard they bear for his worth and their marked reverence for his memory.

On October 2, 1855, Mr. Fitch was married to Mary Sayre, daughter of the late Mason S. and Mary (Sayre) Wilson, whose ancestors were the first settlers of Bridgewater township. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had no children of their own, but they adopted Harriet Bushnell, daughter of the late Al- bert Bushnell, who had read law in the office of Mr. Fitch. She was born in May, 1852, and after the death of her father, when eight years old, was kindly adopted into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, taking their name. She was a sweet girl, a sincere Christian, and her taking away, when just budding into womanhood, on October 30, 1872, aged twenty years, five months and eleven days, was deeply mourned.

HARRISON SEBRING, deceased. The sub- ject of this sketch was, with little exception, a life long resident of Monroe county, a descendant of a prominent pioneer family, a man who himself rose to a position of commanding 'esteem and respect in the community in which he lived, who was sincere and earnest in his views of life and its duties, who lived quietly and unostentatiously, but whose gifted qualities were recognized by his fellowmen and called into public use. Mr. Sebring was a noted mechanic. He possessed, moreover, a judicial mind. Yet his intellectual aptitudes did not disqualify him for an active life such as the conditions in which he lived required, and he was a man of both thought and action. His well-spent life was influential in moulding public opinion and belief, and in building up the material resources of the community.

Mr. Sebring was born near Henryville, Para- dise township, Monroe county, in 1824, a son of

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Rev. John Sebring, and grandson of John Sebring, one of the oldest settlers of Pocono township, where he remained through life. Rev. John Sebring was born in Pocono township, and was for many years a local minister in Monroe county. He married Miss Sarah Bush, and settled in Paradise township. They had children as follows: (I) Harrison, our subject, was the eldest of the family. (2) William married and now resides at Lehighton. (3) Mar- garet became the wife of George Price, of Bar- rett township, Monroe county. (4) George, now deceased, was twice married, first to Jane Peters, of Barrett township, and later to Maggie Rocke- feller, of Stroudsburg. (5) Joshua, who resides in Pocono township, Monroe county, is married and has had children-Fanny, John, Charles, Philip, Robert (deceased), Nelson, Lucy, Annie, Martin and Myrtie. (6) Mary A. first married David Kinney, by whom she had four children, and later a Mr. Pickings, a soldier of the Civil war; she is now a widow, and resides at Wilmington, Del. (7) Berenice died unmarried in that State. Rev. John Sebring married a second time, and by that union had one child, a daughter, who died when a young lady.

Harrison Sebring, our subject, in his youth received the benefits of a common-school education. He was a natural mechanic, and became proficient in many trades, being a mason, carpenter and black- smith at the same time, and doing creditable work in any of those capacities, besides displaying skill as a general workman. In 1848 Mr. Sebring mar- ried Miss Annie E. Rhodes, the worthy and esti- mable daughter of Thomas and Eleanor Rhodes, representatives of an old and prominent family of Hamilton township, Monroe county. Thomas Rhodes was an extensive lumberman in Luzerne county, and after their marriage our subject and his wife lived for five years in the home of her parents, managing the lumber business of Mr. Rhodes. In 1853 Mr. Sebring purchased 800 acres of land at Mountain Home, in Barrett township, Monroe county, erected a sawmill here, and thus became the first lumberman and settler in the locali- ty. A few years later he sold his property and lum- bering interests to Messrs. Shafer & Rheinhart, and moved to Price township purchasing the Beesecker farm, now owned by Mrs. Margaret Posten, and for fourteen years was an active and prominent resident of that township; for many years he acted as trustee of the Church, giving largely of his means for its construction. In politics Mr. Sebring was a Democrat. He was elected justice of the peace in Price township and served continuously during the fourteen years of his residence there. He was also school director a number of terms, and one of the most prominent men of the township. In 1870 Mr. Sebring moved to Barrett township, having purchased what is now known as the Lewis Price farm, located two miles west of Mountain Home. This farm he greatly improved, erecting a good two-story house, barn and other buildings, and here he remained until his death, which oc-

curred in December, 1893. He left a wife and a family of fifteen children, as follows: (I) Elmyra, born in Luzerne county, in 1849, married Frank Metzgar, of Barrett township, Monroe county, and has a family of eight children, Ella (wife of Charles Bender ), Maggie, Edward, Martha, Charles, Harry, Earl and Claude. (2) Martha J., born in Luzerne county in 1851, deceased, was the wife of John Stright, of Barrett township; her children all died young. (3) Margaret, born in 1853, married Dimmick Price, and they removed to Michigan, where she died in 1898, leaving no children. (4) Luther, born at Mountain Home in 1854, married Georgian Henry, of Paradise township and he resided in Bradford Co., Penn., until his death. His wife and their three daughters, Laura, Jennie and Lulu, now reside at Bradford, Penn. (5) John, born in 1856, married Hattie Dean, of Monroe county, and now resides at Waverly, N. Y., with their four children, Albert, Ada, Harry and Hazel. (6) Mahlon died in childhood. (7) Esther, born in 1860, is the wife of John Elmore, and resides at Mt. Pleasant, Mich. They have two children : Bessie and Myron. (8) Howard, born in 1862, migrated West when a young man, entered Ober- lin College, and there completed his education. He secured a position with the government as an oper- ator in Colorado, and is now in the government service at Salt Lake City. (9) Mary, born in 1864, is the widow of William Dixon, and lives at Mt. Pleasant, Mich. She has two children, Warren and Flossie, the latter of whom married James Wil- cox, of Michigan, and has one daughter, Grace. (10) Wilber, born in 1866, married Glenice Wil- cox, of Corning, N. Y., where they now live with their one child, Clarence. (II) Stroud, born in 1868, enlisted when a young man in the regular army, and for eight years has been an officer in his regiment. He served throughout the West, in the Cuban war, and is now stationed at Plattsburg, N. Y. (12) Frank, born in 1870, married May Wolf, of Wayne county, and now resides in Barrett town- ship, Monroe county. They have had one son, Clarence. (13) Anna, born in 1872, married Frank Case. They reside at Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and have two children, Floyd and Earl. (14) Myron, born in 1875, is a carpenter by trade, and resides. at home with his mother. (15) Grace, born in 1877, married George Case, of Mountain Home, and they reside with her mother; their one child, Edith, died in infancy.

Mrs. Sebring, the widow of our subject, is a resident of Barrett township. She is most highly esteemed for her many womanly qualities, qualities of mind and heart which are now a comfort to the survivors in the home that has been saddened by the loss of one of the township's best known and most widely lamented citizens.

EDWARD DEUBLER (deceased) was dur- ing his life-time one of the prominent and enter- prising citizen of Barrett township, Monroe county.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

He was an honest and industrious farmer, and by his daily labor, assisted by his faithful and devoted wife, did much to develop and increase the material resources of the township, and to advance it in mental and moral strength.

Mr. Deubler was born in Smithfield township, Monroe county, in 1832, son of John M. and Dor- othy Deubler, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany. John M. Deubler, as a soldier under Napoleon Bona- parte, participated in the famous march to Mos- cow, the company of which he was a member en- tering the Russian campaign III strong. When the retreat had ended only seven remained of all that number, Mr. Deubler being among the few sur- vivors. After the war he married and settled in Germany, engaging in farming there until 1828, when he migrated to America, making the ocean voyage in a sailing vessel. For two years he lived in Philadelphia; he then came to Monroe county, settling in Smithfield township, where he cleared up a large farm. In 1844 he removed to Barrett township, and settled in Cove, where he purchased a large tract of land, clearing a farm and establishing a new home, which he occupied through life. His family consisted of the following named children : ( I) Frederick died in Barrett township, leaving a family who occupy the old home. (2) Christian set- tled and died in Susquehanna, leaving a family. (3) Catherine married Nicholas A. Lisk, of New Jersey, and now resides in Tunkhannock township, Monroe county. (4) George married Susan Bush, and lives in Scranton. (5) Elizabeth, who, like her elder brothers and sisters,was born in Germany,mar- ried Adam Heusler, of Canadensis, and is now de- ceased. (6) John, born in Philadelphia, settled on part of his father's farm, where he died, leaving a family. (7) Alexander enlisted in the army during the Civil war and died in Libby prison, leaving a wife and three children, who reside in Susquehanna county. (8) Edward, subject of this sketch, is next in order. (9) Henry, born in Monroe county, mar- ried Lucatta Boyer, and now lives with his large family in Barrett township, where he is engaged in farming. (10) Nathan is married and lives at Burling, Wis. (II) Madeline married Conrad Kintz, and died in Barrett township, leaving a husband and three children. Mr. Kintz re-married, and by his second wife had three children. John M. Deubler married a second time, and had three children by his second wife: Martin, who is in Chicago; Otto, in Scranton ; and Dorothy, deceased.

Edward Deubler, subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Barrett township, and grew up on his father's farm, assisting in the work of the place. He was married, in 1856, to Miss Hannah Lomax, daughter of Robert and So- phia (Barnes) Lomax, both of whom were born in England, the father in Stockport, the mother in London; she was the daughter of one of the King's guards, who was killed in service in 1809. Mrs. Deubler was educated in the select schools of England, and emigrated with her father's family

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 49

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