Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 54

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 54
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 54
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 54
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 54

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IV. Richard Gardner, son of John Gardner, was born in 1767. He married Lydia Chapman, and ten years after the massacre, in company with his mother and the other children, returned and settled upon the lands formerly occupied by their father in the Wyoming Valley. Richard Gardner established a ferry, across the Susquehanna river, which took his name, becoming known as Gardner's Ferry, and has for a century been in uninterrupted operation. He remembered distinctly the terrible days of the massacre and the circumstances attend- ing his father's captivity. He lived to be ninety- one years of age, dying July 4, 1858-just eighty years from the time he took leave of his father.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

V. John Gardner (2), son of Richard Gard- ner, was born in 1789. At twenty-two years of age he was married to Rosina, daughter of Peter Ilarris, a Quaker, and an early settler of the Wyo- ming Valley, who had married Polly Goldsmith, a Quaker, whose family was prominent in the early history of New York Colony ; her mother was a sister of Lieut .- Gov. Golden. Mr. Gardner was by occupation a stone mason and farmer. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, a Christian gentleman, and an honest man, whose life of usefulness re- flected credit upon the family name. In 1819 he settled with his family in Tunkhannock, Penn., where both he and his wife died, she in 1863 and he in 1867. She was a woman of many virtues, of marked individuality, whose Christian life shone out in great splendor. Their children were:

(I) Mary A. Gardner was born in 1812. She married Adna Wood, and they resided in Philadel- phia, where she died leaving six children.

(2) Lydia Malvina Gardner was born in 1814. She became an artist, and for many years was a member of the Faculty in Franklin Academy, Har- ford, Penn., teaching drawing and painting. She never married, and spent the latter years of her life on the old Gardner homestead in Tunkhan- nock, Pennsylvania.

(3) Ruth Gardner was born in 1815. She married Rev. Nathan Leighton, afterward of Tunkhannock. Prof. Theodore Leighton, their son, was a graduate of Yale College, for a time taught a private school in Yonkers, N. Y., and later for several years in Chicago, Illinois.

(4) Phebe Gardner was born in 1817, mar- ried George Leighton, and reared a large family of children. The only son, James G. Leighton, was for years one of the leading merchants of Tunk- hannock. The mother died in 1861.

(5) Dr. Peter Harris Gardner, born in 1819, is referred to farther on.

(6) John Richard Gardner, born in 1821, be- came by occupation a millwright, and removed to the West in 1853.

(7) Nancy Gardner was born in 1824. She married Dr. F. B. Davison, of Fleetville, Penn., and had four children, one of whom, Dr. Harry Davison, died in 1886.

(8) Caroline Calista Gardner was born in 1826. She married Dr. J. C. Miles, of Dalton, Penn., and had three children-Dr. C. A. Miles, of Yonkers, N. Y .; Edward Miles, for several years a lawyer in Scranton, now in New York City; and Carrie Miles.

(9) Sarah Samantha Gardner was born in 1829, married Dr. G. B. Seamans, of Pleasant Valley, Penn., and had two children.

(10) Angelina Gardner was born in 1833. She married Thomas Young, and is a resident of Scranton.

Peter Harris, the maternal grandfather of these (referred to above as a Quaker and an early. settler in Wyoming Valley), was taken prisoner 15

by the Indians prior to the Wyoming Massacre, but was released on the ground that he was not a combatant subsequent to the battle, and with his family went to Goshen, N. Y., where he left his wife and children, later accompanying Mrs. John Gardner and children to their home in Connecticut after the massacre. Later Mr. Harris with his family returned to his liome and lands in Pennsyl- vania.

PETER HARRIS GARDNER, M. D., son of John Gardner (2), was a native of Wyomng county, I'enn., born May 16, 1819, in Tunkhannock, and died April 5, 1896. His boyhood was passed not tinlike that of the sons of the general farmer of his day and locality. He worked on the farm and in a stone quarry, attended the neighborhood school, and also received instruction at home from the elder sister. For two years he was a student in Franklin Academy. An accident befel him, when sixteen years of age, which permanently disabled him for manual labor and determined his future course of life, choosing as he did the profession of medicine. He became a student in the office of Dr. B. A. Bouton, of Tunkhannock, attended lectures in 1844- 45 at the Pennsylvania Medical College, Philadel- phia, and in May, 1845, located in practice at Merry- all, Penn. Here he remained until the autumn of 1848, and them removed to Tunkhannock, in Wyom- ing county, same State. In 1852 he again changed his location, removing in that year to Clifford, in Susquehanna county, which became his permanent home and the scene of his long and successful pro- fessional career. He was a student throughout his life, and kept abreast with the times in his pro- fession. He was skillful in the diagnosis and treat- ment of disease, and ever held the esteem and regard of his fellow physicians. As a citizen he was ever identified with the various public enterprises of the community in which he lived. He was especially interested and active in the cause of education, al- ways advocating every measure looking to the im- provement of the school system. He was chiefly instrumental, in 1862, in the removal of the board of school directors of the township and in the ap- pointment of a new board,pledged to construct suita- ble school buildings. He was active in bringing about the organization of the Clifford Valley Ceme- tery Association, and of the purchase and improve- ment of the cemetery grounds. For years he was a member of the Susquehanna Medical Society, and was ever active in the advancement of the profes- sion. He was the faithful and efficient postmaster at Clifford for a period of over a decade and a half.

In 1844 Dr. Gardner was married to Adeline S. Richardson, daughter of Deacon Lee and Lois (Carpenter) Richardson, who were descendants of pioneer settlers of Harford township, coming from Massachusetts. To their marriage were born the following children : Morton Atlee Gardner married Miss Minnie M. Wells; he was a merchant at Clif- ford, served for sixteen years as the efficient assist- ant postmaster there, and until 1896 was at the head

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of the Clifford Agency for Fire and Life Insurance at that point, which agency he established in the early 'eighties, in the autumn of 1896 removing to Carbondale, Lackawanna county. Helen A. Gard- ner married George Simpson, of Clifford, now re- siding at Tunkhannock, Penn. Adelphine Gardner married Rev. James W. Putnam, late pastor of the Temple Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Edward Richardson Gardner, now one of the leading phy- sicians of Montrose, is mentioned farther on. Clara M. Gardner married Prof. Frank Seward Miller, late superintendent of public schools of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Adaline S. (Richardson) Gardner, the mother of these children, was born March 21, 1822, in Harford township, Susquehanna county, and died March 12, 1894; she was a descendant in the seventh generation from Stephen Richardson, who was an emigrant from England to the Massachu- setts Colony in about 1666, locating at Woburn, the line of her descent being through William Rich- ardson, Stephen Richardson (2), Caleb Richard- son. Caleb Richardson (2) and Deacon Lee Richardson. The Richardson family were con- spicuous in the early history of New England and in the early history of Susquehanna county, Penn., and a family of the best New England type, who left their impress for good upon society and institutions, the details of the family history being given below.

EDWARD RICHARDSON GARDNER, M. D., of Montrose, son of Dr. Peter Harris Gardner, was born August 27, 1853, in the village of Clifford, Susquehanna Co., Penn. He attended the public schools of his native village and the high school at Hadley Falls, Mass., from which latter he was grad- uated in 1876, and he spent one year in the academic department of Madison ( now Colgate) University, at Hamilton, N. Y. In the meantime he had stud- ied the languages under the private instruction of Prof. Timyennis, formerly junior professor of Greek and Latin in Harvard University, and a na- tive of Athens, Greece, where he was reared and educated. In 1878 Dr. Gardner began the study of medicine under the direction of his father, and furthered his reading also with Dr. C. M. John- son, then at Watertown, N. Y., but now of the vicin- ity of Los Angeles, Cal. He attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and was graduated in 1882, immediately joining his father in practice at Clifford, at which point he remained some six years, and then settled at Montrose, where he has since been actively and successfully engaged in his professional duties. The Doctor, by his straightforward course, studious habits and attention to his patrons, has made a reputation in the profes- sion and society in the community, and has the es- teem of his fellow citizens. He is a member of the Susquehanna County Medical Society, has served as treasurer since 1892, was vice-president in 1889, and president in 1890 and 1891. He is also a mem- ber of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and

of the American Medical Association. Since the organization, in 1891 or 1892, of the borough board of health, he has been the Health Officer of Mont- rose. He is identified with the Presbyterian Church of the village. In politics he is a Repub- lican, and is now a member of the school board.

In 1888 Dr. Gardner was married to Mamie E. Bennett, daughter of F. B. and Julia A. (Doud ) Bennett, of Clifford, Penn., and to the union have come two children: Frank Harris, born in 1889. and Braton Richardson, born in 1891. The mother of these died in November, 1894, and in April, 1897, the Doctor was married to Mrs. Julia Dunmore (Hill) Heath, of Montrose.

RICHARDSON. In 1790 there came to what afterward became Susquehanna county Capt. Caleb Richardson (Caleb Richardson, Sr.), one of the "Nine Partners" from Attleboro, Mass., who made the settlement of "Nine Partners," later styled Harford. Capt. Richardson was the hero of two wars, and a man of the best type of a sturdy Puri- tan New England ancestry, and none of the early settlers of Susquehanna county have done more to mold character, elevate morals, uphold Chris- tianity and influence public sentiment than the children and children's children of Capt. Richard- son. Such names as Rev. Lyman Richardson, Deacon Lee Richardson, Preston Richardson, Dr. Braton Richardson, Dr. Edward S. Richardson, Rev. Willard Richardson, C. Judson Richardson, Edward K. Richardson, of Berwick, Columbia county, and the venerable Dr. William L. Richard- son, of Montrose, who is still active in the profes- sion, hale and hearty, with the full possession of all his faculties at upward of eighty-four years, are mentioned among the number of the posterity.

WILLIAM LEE RICHARDSON, M. D., of Mont- rose, is a descendant in the seventh generation from Stephen Richardson, his first American an- cestor, who came from England about 1666 and settled at Woburn, Mass., the line of his descent being through William, Stephen (2), Capt. Caleb, Caleb and Deacon Lee Rchardson. Stephen (I) married Abigail Wyman, and they had four sons-William, Francis, Seth and Timothy.

II. William Richardson, son of Stephen Richardson, born in 1678, married Rebecca Vin- ton; he was a native of Attleboro, Massachusetts.

III. Stephen Richardson (2), son of William Richardson, was born in 1714, married Hannah Coy, and was also a resident of Attleboro, Massa- chusetts.

IV. Capt. Caleb Richardson, son of Stephen Richardson, born in 1739 in Attleboro, Mass., mar- ried, in about 1762, Esther, daughter of John and Deliverance (Parmenter) Tiffany, of Attleboro, Mass. Capt. Richardson was a soldier in the French and Indian war in 1765. He traversed the Mohawk Valley before any settlements were made in it. He was with Gen. Bradstreet at the tak- ing of Frontenac. He was a captain in the war of

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the Revolution, and was in possession of and held the old fort on the site of the present Battery in New York City while Gen. Washington and forces made their retreat. On the close of the war he was made a justice in Attleboro. Capt. Richardson, as referred to in the foregoing, was one of the "Nine Partners" who in 1790 began the settlement of a large tract of land in what is now Harford, Sus- quehanna county. These men, in the fall of 1789, at Attleboro, Mass., had considered the matter of purchase and settlement, and the following spring carried out the project. Their purchase consisted of a body of land some four miles long and one mile wide. Capt. Richardson, however, while he made the journey and figured in the preliminaries, did not share the first division of lands and settle. In 1808 he came to the settlement, and his home was ever afterward in Harford. He was a very capable business man. His wife died in 1822, and he passed away that year also, both being eighty- three years of age. They had lived together sixty years.

V. Caleb Richardson, son of Capt. Caleb Richardson, corn in 1762, married Huldah Hatch June 21, 1787. He was a justice of the peace in Attleboro, Mass., the place of his birth, and a dea- con in the Church there. He was with the "Nine Partners" at the time that they entered into the agreement with the agent of Henry Drinker, for the original purchase of land, and witnessed the agreement on a hemlock stump for a writing desk. In 1806 he removed to Harford, Penn., and took up land outside of the original purchase, about one mile from Harford, making a clearing on what has since become classic ground-the site of the old Franklin Academy, subsequently the Orphans' School. He was chosen a deacon in the Church at Harford in 1810, a position he held throughout life. He died in 1838, aged seventy-six years. His children were:

(I) Rev. Lyman Richardson, born in 1790 in Attleboro, Mass., at the age of sixteen removed with the family to Harford, Penn., possessed then with a good common-school education and some knowledge of Latin. He was converted at nine- teen, and desiring to enter the ministry and receive further educational advancement it is said that he walked one hundred miles to Wilkes Barre, to an academy, seeking an opportunity to work for his board and enter upon a course of study. Disap- pointed in this, he returned home, was married, and settled upon a farm. Subsequently he again be- came a student, this time at the Wilkes Barre Academy, of which he was principal still later. He taught a select school in Harford, and during all these years was studying theology. At thirty he was licensed to preach by the Susquehanna Presby- tery, and labored successfully in the ministry un- til 1840, then returned to Harford and took charge of Franklin Academy, established by his brother, Preston Richardson, in 1830. Rev. Lyman Rich- ardson continued in the work twenty-five years,

when the infirmities of age compelled him to re- linquish the charge. "His pulpit utterances were not distinguished by graces of diction or the man- ner of polished oratory. He spoke readily, earn- estly and impressively. Glowing representations and startling truths often came unexpectedly. In- dividuals and sometimes the mass of an audience found themselves held by a powerful influence. In the cause of education his zeal was ardent. As a teacher and principal he maintained unvarying kindness of manner and secured universal esteem." Prof. Tyler says of him: "Mr. Lyman Richardson had not a college education, and was not himself a thorough classical scholar. He was a well-edu- cated and self-made man. But this does not mean in his case that he was not educated at all. He disciplined his own mind by observation, reflec- tion and the best books within his reach. He was a live man, wide-awake, intensely in earnest, all on fire from his heart's core to the end of his tongue, and his fingers, and the very hairs of his head, with the ardor of his temperament and the fervor of his love for God and man. Full of enthusiasm himself, in the teacher's chair as well as in the pulpit, he was able to inspire his pupils with gen- uine enthusiasm in their studies." His wife was Charlotte Sweat, and their children were Dr. Ed- ward S., Rev. Willard N., Maria, Edward K., George L. and Lyman E.

(2) DEACON LEE RICHARDSON, born June 7, 1792, in Attleboro, Mass., came with his father's family to Harford, Penn., in 1806. He was reared on a farm, and became one of the prominent and active business men of the town. He owned a fine farm, and was active in business affairs, being by trade a millright and builder. He owned and operated a sawmill, a gristmill and a carding ma- chine. He was colonel of the militia, and a man of force and influence in the community. He died in 1833. His wife, whom he married April 13, 1813, was formerly Lois Carpenter, whose parents were from Attleboro, Mass., and pioneers of Har- ford. She died in 1843. Their five sons were Dr. William L., of Montrose; Ebenezer and Stephen J., who died in infancy; Wellington T .; and C. Judson, late of Chicago, Illinois.

(3) Caleb C. Richardson, born September 27, 1794, died about 1866. He was in partnership with his brother Lee in the erection and operation of the Richardson Mills.

(4) PROF. PRESTON RICHARDSON was born January 5, 1801, in Attleboro, Mass., and accom- panied his father's family to the new home in Har- ford in 1806. He was graduated from Hamilton College, and received the degree of A. M. He re- turned from school to his home in 1830 in poor health, and a room on the second floor of his father's home was fitted up in which he opened a school, the germ of Franklin Academy and Har- ford University. Prof. Tyler, in continuing his remarks, quoted above in reference to Rev. Lyman Richardson, says : "His brother, his son and his

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brother-in-law, who succeeded him (Rev. Lyman Richardson) one after another in his work, all en- joyed better advantages of education, but to him belongs the honor of having originated, and orig- inated well, the series of classical schools which have proved such an ornament and blessing in his native town. It was under Mr. Preston Richard- son, brother of Lyman, that I obtained my imme- diate and final preparation to enter the Junior class in college. His school was then wholly in a small, simply but suitably furnished chamber in the home of his father, the old Richardson house. That was the germ of the Franklin Academy and Harford University. Preston Richardson was the gentlest and loveliest of men, as unpretending as he was unselfish and unambitious; but a most faithful and devoted teacher, and a Christian whose simple, childlike faith blossomed and bore fruit in a life of rare purity and beauty. I always think of him as beyond any man of my early acquaintance resem- bling the Apostle John." Up to 1855 some four- teen hundred students had been enrolled at Har- ford Academy, and nearly every one of them car- ried away with them feelings of regard for the Richardsons similar to those expressed by Prof. Tyler. The good and beneficent influence of the Richardsons in connection with the school which they conducted so ably and so well can be seen in the number of professional men, judges, lawyers, congressmen, governors, professors, school teach- ers, ministers and intelligent business men that at- tended the school who call them blessed. Among them many have their names written on the role of fame.

(5) Dr. Braton Richardson was born in 1803 in Attleboro, Mass., and was brought to Harford, Penn., with the family in 1806. He had but lim- ited educational advantages, but diligently prose- cuted his studies at home. He studied medicine under the direction of Dr. Thomas Sweet, of Canaan, Penn., and Dr. Charles Marshall, of New- ton, N. J., respectively. He attended lectures at the Western Medical College, Fairfield, N. Y., and began the practice of medicine in 1829 at Carbon- dale, Penn. In 1830 he located in Brooklyn, Penn., and there lived a life of usefulness in the com- munity, adorned the profession, and was an hon- ored citizen to the close of his life, dying March 20, 1864. He received a diploma in 1834 from the Albany (N. Y.) Medical College. As a physician Dr. Richardson was in the foremost rank of the profession in Susquehanna county. He was very punctual in all his engagements. He was precise, dignified and courtly in manner. He often repre- sented the Susquehanna County Medical Society at the State Society, of which he was one of the cen- sors. He was twice a delegate to the American Medical Association. He was the president of the Susquehanna County Medical Society at its organ- ization in 1838 and several times thereafter. In 1840 he was married to Lucy C., daughter of Joshua Miles, Jr., of Brooklyn, Pennsylvania.

William Lee Richardson, son of Deacon Lee Richardson, was born June 7, 1815, at Harford, Susquehanna Co., Penn. He remained at home until the death of his father, which occurred in 1833, when the son was eighteen years of age. He was of a mechanical turn of mind, and working with his father ne had become proficient as a car- penter and joiner. He had no taste for the drudg- ery of a farm. After the death of his father he fol- lowed his trade until the fall of 1839, when, owing to his inability physically to work at the bench, he decided to study medicine. This he did under the direction of his uncle, the late Dr. Braton Richard- son, a physician of distinction of Brooklyn, Penn. He had made his home with his uncle from the spring of 1838, and was the builder of the latter's commodious and elegant home property. After pursuing the required course of study the young student entered the Western District branch of the University of New York, located at Fairfield, N. Y., and there attended a course of lectures-the first course of lectures delivered by the late Dr. Frank H. Hamilton. Subsequently, in 1840, young Richardson attended another course of lec- tures, this time at the Geneva (N. Y.) Medical College. Shortly thereafter he cast his lot with the people of Brooklyn, Penn., where he hung out his "shingle" and entered upon a medical career that has since been followed with skill, ability and marked success. In 1842 he became associated in practice with Dr. Braton Richardson, in Brooklyn Centre, remaining with him some years and then again practicing independently in the same village. Dr. Richardson further equipped himself for his work by taking a course of lectures in 1847-48 at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Penn., from which he was graduated in 1849. He con- tinued to practice at Brooklyn until March, 1854, at which time he located in practice at Nesquehon- ing, Carbon Co., Penn., and for four years was employed as physician by several large mining companies. In 1858 he removed to Montrose, re- turning the same year, however, to the mining town Nesquehoning, where he remained until 1867. Returning that year to Montrose, he has since remained there, and has for thirty years been in active practice of his profession, in which he has held in no stinted measure the love, esteem and high regard of his fellow citizens. Covering a period of nearly fifty years the Doctor has been more or less identified with the Susquehanna Coun- ty Medical Society, and has served the profession in that society in various official relations. He was its secretary forty years ago, its president from 1873 to 1876, represented it in the State Society in 1859, 1871, 1875, 1876, 1884 and 1885, and also at times has been its vice-president. He was hon- ored by the State Medical Society as a delegate to the International Medical Society held at Washing- ton, D. C., in 1876.

"Dr. Richardson has always been a faithful and conscientious physician, kind and attentive to.

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his patients, gentlemanly and courteous to brother practitioners, and a strict observer of the code of ethics. He takes an active interest in the Medical Society where he resides." He has been a plain, unassuming man in all his professional career, and his many patients through the unusually long period of an active practice that has been allotted him have been his steadfast friends. The Doctor has ever enjoyed an occasional hunt and fish. He is a lover of a good horse, a good judge of horse- flesh, and has usually owned a good animal.

In 1849 Dr. Richardson was married to Miss Mary Fish, a descendant of early settlers of Brook- lyn township. She died December 4, 1895, leav- ing no children. The Doctor is a Democrat in po- litical sentiment.

SAMUEL SPRAGLE is now retired from the labors of a long and active life, and is spending his declining days in the midst of ease and plenty at his comfortable home in Hamilton township, Monroe county. His position, socially and financially, is the result of his own unaided industry, coupled with sound sense and excellent business capacity with which nature endowed him.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 54

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