Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 6

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 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 6

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Mr. Searle is not only an expert chemist and mining engineer, but is of an inventive turn of mind, and has taken out or has now pending sev- eral patents for use in mining. While in charge of the Crown Deep Mine he devised and developed a Cyanide process for extracting gold. This pro- cess afterward came into general use in the mines at Johannesburg, the miners paying a royalty for its use. The United States patent on this process was issued August 15, 1898; applications are pend- ing in foreign countries. Mr. Searle has also de- vised a compound engine for general purposes, but especially useful in mine drilling. He has also an electric signaling device for mine signaling, and on all patents are pending. Mr. Searle is a young man of quick perception and analytical mind-the master of his profession. Like all of the family the writer has met, he is most genial and affable, and impresses one with a feeling of ease and com- fort in his presence. He is now taking a rest at his country home along Jones' Lake, near Montrose.

On March 5, 1889, Mr. Searle was married to Miss Marie Antoinette Baum, daughter of Joseph and Marie Antoinette Baum, of Spring- field, Ill., and to them have come children as fol- lows: Rogers, Irene, Josephine and Barry.

EDWIN A. BELL, one of Stroudsburg's suc- cessful business men, has been connected with nu- merous important enterprises, and has gained an enviable reputation for sound judgment and execu- tive ability.

Mr. Bell comes of good Colonial stock, and is of the sixth generation in descent from Henry Bell, who is supposed to have come from Wales. Henry Bell and his wife, Sarah, had three children : John,

born April 22, 1721 ; Mary, December II, 1722; and Jonathan, February 24, 1724.

(II) John, who died April 29, 1773, married Hannah Rees, March 14, 1745, and had one son, Jonathan.

(III) Jonathan, born June 29, 1749, died March 14, 1773. He married Mary Stroud, and had two sons, James and Isaiah.

(IV) James, born March 8, 1771, died Jan- uary 14, 1851. He married Susanna Thomas, May 3, 1798, and had six children : Joseph B., born May 12, 1799, married Mary Githens, and died August 14, 1879; Mary B., born January 8, 1802, married Aaron Croasdale ; John T., born August 26, 1804, married Antoinette Jordan, and died April 3, 1882 ; James, Jr., born August 10, 1808, is mentioned be- low ; Susan, born May II, 1813, died June 26, 1843 ; and Jane, born October 1, 1815, was married, April 3, 1834, to John Jordan, Jr.

(V) James Bell, Jr., was married, May II, 1841, to Hannah Alsop. He died June 11, 1899. They had seven children : ( 1) Francis Jordan, born April 2, 1842, was married (first) on December 17, 1874, to Alida Ashmead, and (second) on March 20, 1883, to K. S. Dunn. He has three chil- dren, Florence, Edith and Frank. (2) Edwin A. is the subject proper of this sketch. (3) Thomas A., born December 20, 1844, married Elizabeth Dunn, September 17, 1868. They have had five children as follows : Albert T. ; Frederick D., who married Alice Maud Gilbert, born October 21, 1896; Philip D., deceased ; William B. ; and Helen. (4) William B., born June 4, 1848, married Rachel E. Alsop, July, 7, 1875, and died May 13, 1877. (5) Charles, born October 4, 1849, was educated at Westtown board- ing school, and for several years was in business in Phliadelphia. He now resides in Stroudsburg, and is largely interested in the Stroudsburg Electric Light & Power Co., of which he is secretary. (6) Emma, born June 9, 1853, died March 30, 1870. (7) Henry A., born April 24, 1856, was married March 14, 1881, to Ida Taylor. They have three children, Emma, Bertha and Edwin A.

(VI) Edwin A. Bell was born April 26, 1843, at the old homestead situated about a mile and a half from the Delaware Water Gap, now known as The River View Farm and owned by Evan T. Croasdale. Between the ages of eight and nine he was sent to the Friends boarding school at Westtown, Chester Co., Penn., where he remained until nineteen, acting part of the time as instructor. Going to Philadelphia he was employed as bookkeeper by John J. Lytle, who carried on a retail dry-goods store,and after two years he entered the employ of Edwin Hall as book- keeper. In 1869 he entered into partnership with Hig- gins & Vanneman, jobbers of notions, and during his stay the firm was changed twice, becoming Higgins, Burn & Bell, and finally Higgins, Bell & Warford. In 1877 he removed to Stroudsburg, and took a po- sition in the institution known as the Monroe County Banking & Savings Company made vacant by the

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

death of his brother, William B. Bell. Later he was largely instrumental in organizing the First Na- tional Bank of Stroudsburg, and was for several years cashier. The Chemical Pulp Company, lo- cated at Experiment Mills, three miles from Strouds- burg, was an enterprise in which several of the brothers were interested, E. A. Bell acting for some time as treasurer. At present one of the most suc- cessful institutions in Monroe county is the Com- monwealth Building & Loan Association, which was organized in May, 1878, and the subject of this sketch, who formulated plans for the working of the organization, has held the office of secretary for twenty years. The organization has been of great benefit to the town and county, and at present loans money to the amount of $200,000. During all the years of his residence in Monroe county, Mr. Bell carried on in a small way the business of insurance, and finally he gave his time entirely to it, travel- ing for a while as adjuster for the Royal Insurance Companv. In 1892 he took into partnership his daughter, Miss Caroline F. Bell, and the firm has since been known as E. A. Bell & Co. On Sep- tember 16, 1868, he married Miss Mary Percival Stokes, a member of a well-known family, of which an account is given below. She died October 27, 1883, leaving two children, Caroline F, and E. Howard. On December 27, 1888, Mr. Bell married Miss Elizabeth M. Hollinshead, of Stroudsburg, Monroe Co., Penn., a daugh- ter of Dr. Frank Hollinshead. A genealogical re- cord of the Hollinshead family appears elsewhere.

The Stokes family is descended from John Stokes ,who was at one time a biscuit baker in Lon- don, England.

(II) Thomas Stokes, son of John, was born in London, England, in 1646, and married Mary, a daughter of John Barnard, October 30, 1668. He came over with his family in the ship "Kent," which arrived in New Castle, June 16, 1677, and for some time he resided at or near Burlington, N. J. Sub- sequently, by deed of his brother John Stokes, of Wentworth street, in the parish of Stepney, London, he became the owner of a farm on the north bank of the north branch of the Rancocas, adjoining the land of Bernard Devonish and others. He departed this life in 1720: his wife died in 1697. Their chil- dren were: Sarah married Benjamin Moore, Octo- ber, 1693, and settled in Evesham, Burlington Co., N. J., and their children and name are widely ex- tended ; Mary married John Hudson in May, 1696; Thomas married Deliverance Horner in 1704; and Joseph married (first) Judith Lippincott (August IO. 1710), and (second) Ann Haines ; and John is mentioned more fully below.

(III) John was born in England, in 1675, and came to America with his parents. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Green and grand- daughter of Arthur Green, of Bugbroke, England. In 1712 he purchased a farm of 200 acres on the north bank of the Rancocas river, one mile below the forks, in Willingboro, Burlington Co., N. J.,

from John Wills, executor of Thomas Harding. To this he subsequently added other land, making in all about 500 acres bounded on the north by Olive Mill creek. He also became the proprietor of about 300 acres in Haycock township, in the upper part of Bucks county, Penn. On the Rancoca's farm, purchased by John Stokes, Thomas Harding had erected a dwelling, where was held the first Ran- cocas meeting of Friends. The house, with the ad- ditions subsequently erected, was burned in 1778. John Stokes died in 1749, aged seventy-nine years. He had one son John, and three daughters: Mary, who married Edward Mullen in 1724; Eliza, who married Richard Blackman, and left two children, Elizabeth and William; and Sarah, who married Isaac Rogers.

(IV) John Stokes was born in 1713, and in 1840 he married Hannah, daughter of Jervis and Mary Stockdale. He died in 1798 and his wife died in 1790, aged seventy-two years. He settled on his father's farm in Bucks county, Penn., in 1742, and two years later, upon the death of his father, re- moved to the homestead on the banks of the Ran- cocas. He had seven children : Mary, born August 6, 1745, married Isaac Newton ; John, born June 2, 1747, married Susan Newton; David, born Novem- ber 12, 1751, married Ann Lancaster; Jervis is mentioned below ; Hannah, born October 12, 1756, married (first) Jacob Haines, and ( second) George Browning; Elizabeth, born Mav 31, 1759, married Robert French; and Rachel, born February 2, 1765, married George Hackney. John Stokes settled on the farm at Haycock, Bucks Co., Penn., after his marriage to Susan Newton, and, they had nine chil- dren as follows: (I) William married, and lived to an advanced age, but left no children. (2) John remained single. (3) Samuel married, and settled near Stroudsburg, Penn., and had three daughters. (4) Stogdell married, and had two children: John died unmarried ; and Martha married Dr. Newlin Stokes, and resides in Morristown, N. J. Stogdell resided in Stroudsburg for some years, but his last days were spent in Moorestown with his daughter. (5) Mary married Thomas Lister, of Quakertown, Penn. (6) Hannah married John Paul, of near Hosham, Penn. (7) Elizabeth married David Roberts, of Richland, Penn. (8) Rachel married Timothy Smith, of near Doylestown, Penn. (9) Susan married James Bryan, of Doylestown, Penn- sylvania.

(V) Jervis Stokes, born November 10, 1753, son of John and Hannah Stokes, married Elizabeth Rodgers. They settled on the north of Olive Mill creek end of the Stokes homestead. Of their children, Martha married Aaron Haines: Hannah married Granville Woolman : John married Elizabeth Wool- man ; William married Hannah Hatcher; Elizabeth married Abel Haines; Jervis is mentioned below ; Joseph married Harriet Stockton: Mary remained single : Esther married Joseph Butterworth; Stog- dell married Wilhelmena Metzgar ; Samuel married Amy Middleton; and Mordecai married Sarah

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Thompson. The offspring of this branch of the family are numerous and widely spread throughout the United States.

(VI) Jervis Stokes married Abigail Woolman, and had eleven children: Rachel married Daniel Shreeves Zelly; Elizabeth married Cyrus Moore ; Uriah married Ann Lawrence ; William is mentioned below : Charles married ( first) Josephine Yates, and ( second ) Mary Ann Parker; George married Martha Burr Stokes; Rebecca married M. Elwood Hollinshead; Granville married Cornelia Taylor ; Jervis never married ; Franklin married Mary Will- iams: and Milton married Sarah Harris.

(\'II) William, son of Jervis Stokes and Abi- gail Woolman, was born April 11, 1812, and died October 17, 1855. He was married October 15, 1836. to Elizabeth Percival, and had five children : Ella died April 17, 1840; Mary P. married Edwin A. Bell, our subject; Phebe A. married Louis Atkin- son, January 26, 1875 ; Helen E. died May 4, 1888; and Percival is not married.

HON. JOHN B. STORM, of Stroudsburg, is one of Monroe county's most distinguished citi- zens, and his long career at the Bar and in public life reflects credit upon the section where he was born and reared.

Mr. Storm is of German descent in the pater- nal line, and is of the fifth generation from John Storm, who came from the Fatherland about 1750 and located within the presents limits of North- ampton county. Later he removed to the flats at the site of South Stroudsburg, then a part of North- ampton county, and followed farming until his death. He had three sons: John, Frederick and Andrew. John Storm, last mentioned, had three children: Andrew, who lived and died in Monroe county, was a prominent man in his day, having filled the offices of county treasurer, sheriff and associate judge : Elizabeth married John Sobers, and both are now deceased : Ann's first husband was John Fetherman, her second Isaac Slutter, and they are ali deceased. Frederick Storm moved to the State of New York in the early part of the century, and had two sons. John and Abel ; the latter died unmarried, and John left to survive him a son named Frederick, who is still living at Ludlowville, in the State of New York, aged sixty-seven years.

Andrew Storm, our subject's great-grand- father, made his home upon a farm in Hamilton township, Monroe county, which is still in the pos- session of the family. He was the father of the following children: John Teel, our subject's grand- father: Andrew, who died about twenty-five years ago, and was buried in Chestnut Hill township ; and Elizabeth, who married Jacob Dreher, a soldier of the war of 1812, and a resident of Monroe coun- ty, where she died in her ninety-second year.

John Teel Storm resided upon his father's old homestead, and died in 1837, at the age of thirty- seven, from a disease resembling pneumonia, which was caused by exposure. His wife, Rachel

(Learn), who survived him many years, was a member of the Learn family which was almost ex- terminated in an Indian massacre. They had sev- en children, of whom, Jacob Storm, our subject's father, was the eldest. (2) Andrew died in Para- dise township, Monroe county. (3) Peter died about twenty-two years ago, in Carbon county, Penn. (4) Samuel died in Pocono township, Mon- roe county, about four years ago. (5) Charles left no descendants. (6) John died November 21, 1898. (7) Elizabeth married William Sampson, of Wayne county, where she died fifteen years ago.

The late Jacob Storm was born September 4, 1802, in Hamilton township, Monroe county, and was educated in the subscription schools of his day, and as the nearest was five miles from his home, his desire for instruction was put to a severe test in rough weather. His occupation was that of a farmer. He died October 9, 1895, and his wife, Maria ( Brotzman ), who was born in Monroe coun- ty, in 1806, died March 7, 1848. They had seven children : ( 1) Samuel, born in 1828, is a gauger in the United States Revenue service and resides in Scranton. He married Sophia, daughter of Doc- tor Rupert, and has had two children, Hayden (deceased ), and Emma (Mrs. Wells). (2) Simon, born in 1832, was a farmer on the old homestead in Hamilton township, where he died in August, 1897. He married Ellen Jane Miller, and had five chil- dren, George A., Stewart M., Jacob. John A. and Martha ( who married Samuel Schoch, of Pocono township, Monroe county ). (3) John B., our sub- ject, is mentioned more fully below. (4) Lewis, born in 1839, resides in Scranton, and has been in the en- ploy of the Lackawanna Coal & Iron Co. for twenty years. He married and has two children, Harry and Malinda. (5) Rachel, born in 1830, married William Miller, and has had three children, Susan ( deceased ), Helen and Hattie. (6) Susan, born in 1834, married. Lewis Heller, now deceased. She has four children, Oscar, a resident of Bingham- ton, N. Y .; Jacob, a physician at Factoryville, Penn .; Milton, and Martha. (7) Abel, born in 1845. resides in Hamilton township, Monroe county.

John B. Storm was born in Hamilton town- ship Monroe county, in 1838, and as he was reared upon a farm his early educational opportunities were but meager. He was not the kind of youth to succumb to adverse circumstances, and by hard work and close economy he managed to make his way through Dickinson College, graduating in 1861. Ou leaving that institution he began the study of law with Hon. S. S. Dreher, and in 1863 he was admitted to practice. Previous to this he had served a short time as county superintendent of schools, having been appointed to fill a vacancy, and he displayed so much ability in this position that in 1863 he was elected for the term of three years. In 1866 he was again elected, serving a full term, and in 1870 and 1872 he was elected to Con- gress on the Democratic ticket. After four years

Ino, B. Storico.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of service, in which he won the approbation of his constituents by his faithful discharge of duty, he returned to the practice of his profession, in which he met with marked success. As a public speaker he is notably effective, and has won special praise in his successful management of trial-cases. In 1882 he was nominated by his party as a candidate for the XLVIIIth Congress, several distinguished competitors being vanquished in the convention, and he again served two terms, taking an influential part in the work of the House. While his course was eminently conservative, and his manner less aggressive than that of some ambitious politicians in Congress, his voice, whenever it was raised upon any question, commanded respectful attention. In 1893 he was appointed president judge of Monroe county, and served six months. He has been a delegate to many State conventions of his party, and in 1888 was a member of the Democratic National Convention. For twenty years he has been a trustee of Dickinson College, and he is now president of the board of trustees of the State Nor- mal School at East Stroudsburg, of which he was one of the chief promoters. He was one of the commissioners appointed by the governor to build the State Asylum for the Chronic Insane, at Wer- nersville, and at various times his abilities have been called to the service of the public in education- al and philanthropic movements. For thirty-one years he has been an active worker in the Methodist Church at Stroudsburg, and for thirty years he has served on the board of trustees. Since 1867 he has been a teacher in the Sunday-school. Socially he and his family are prominent, and while in Wash- ington he united (in 1872) with the Masonic fra- ternity.

On October 24, 1865, Mr. Storm married Miss Harriet Brown, daughter of Robert Brown, of East Stroudsburg, and they have had four chil- dren : (1) Nellie K., born September 9, 1867, mar- ried Dr. Edward C. Stout, and has one daughter, Margaret C., born July 31, 1889. (2) John A., born April 24, 1870, died August 7, same year. (3) Arthur Leigh, born September 13, 1871, is an architect in Philadelphia. (4) Robert Frederick, born August 5. 1878, is a student in Drexel Insti- tute in Philadelphia. Mrs. Storm is a member of an old and highly esteemed family of Monroe coun- ty, being a great-granddaughter of John Brown, who settled at the present site of East Stroudsburg in 1790, purchasing a farm from Mr. Brodhead. He was born in May, 1746, and died December 8. 1821. leaving three sons : John, who resided in Mon- roe county on the old Bushkill road ; Michael, a res- ident of Stroudsburg, who left a large family; and Jacob, Mrs. Storm's grandfather. Jacob Brown was born December 1, 1771, and died February 16, 1841. He purchased the old homestead, where he followed farming, and for many years he was a leading citizen of this section, being one of the first associate judges chosen after the county was formed. His wife, Susannah Van Buskirk, was

born November 17, 1776, and died April 29, 1859. They had six children: Anna, born Feb- ruary 8, 1801, who married Jacob Eilenberger ; Daniel, born January 19, 1803, who died at his home above Shawnee, Monroe county ; Rob- ert, Mrs. Storm's father; Mary, born January 8, 1809, who married Charles Brodhead, and became the mother of Hon. C. D. Brodhead; Edward, born October 11, 1812, now deceased; and Ellen, born October 18, 1818, who married David Keller. Rob- ert Brown, the father of Mrs. Storm, was born May 3, 1806, and after receiving a common-school education engaged in farming. On May 25, 1837, he married Miss Rachel Bennett, who was born July 25, 1817, and died September 24, 1879, and his own death occurred June 13, 1885. Six chil- dren were born of the union: Ellen, wife of Joseph Keller, a furniture dealer at Stroudsburg; Daniel, a jeweler at Stroudsburg; Harriet, Mrs. Storm; Theodore C., a retired resident of Stroudsburg; John, a resident of Watertown, N. Y. ; and Robert, a furniture dealer in Stroudsburg.

WILLIAM WALLACE. The history of this well-known citizen of Stroudsburg, Monroe county, is most interesting, portraying as it does the steps by which a talented and enterprising youth made his way to success notwithstanding the disadvan- tages of early poverty. For many years he has been a leader in various lines of enterprise, and although he is now less active than formerly, his name is closely associated with the most important movements connected with the development of this section. At the age of seventy-four his faculties are still unimpaired, his ripe experience giving in- creased value to his judgment, and he might well choose to "keep his armor on," but in gradually re- linquishing his work to younger men he has realized the poet's ideal which would "crown a youth of labor with a life of ease."

Mr. Wallace was born September 20, 1824, in Northampton county, Penn., where his ancestors settled at an early day. His grandfather, Moses Wallace, was a farmer there and died at a good old age, leaving a large family of children, among whom were three sons. Alexander. Joseph and David.

David Wallace, our subject's father, was born in Northampton county, and for a number of years followed farming in that section, but later removed to Albion, Calhoun Co., Mich., where he died at the age of seventy-five. His wife, Jane Mack, a native of Northampton county, also attained an advanced age, her death occurring in Michigan. They were devout Methodists in religion, and were much es- teemed for their excellent qualities of character. Our subject is the eldest in a family of eight children, the others being: Margaret, who was married in Northampton county and later moved to Michigan ; Joseph, a merchant of Stroudsburg, now deceased ; Jeremiah, who settled in California ; Anna ; Sanford, a resident of Michigan ; Fermin, who went to Cali- fornia : and Eleanor.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

As the son of a busy farmer, Mr. Wallace be- came acquainted with the details of agricultural work, but the business was not congenial, and even in boyhood he determined to enter mercantile life. He received his education in the common schools of the county, and later, through the recommendation of friends, he secured a position in a general store in Stroudsburg, where he worked one year for $25 per year, the opportunity to learn the business being more of a consideration than his salary. His em- ployers then gave him $75 per year, and by the end of three years he had made himself indispensable to the firm, and was offered a half-interest. This gave him an excellent chance for success, and in less than four years he became the sole proprietor of the busi- ness, which he continued many years. As time passed he engaged in other lines of business, meeting with uniform success in all. For some time he carried on a large wholesale jobbing trade in lumber, which was transported by team or otherwise to Delaware Water Gap, and from there rafted to Philadelphia and other points. The busi- ness developed to such an extent that he was obliged to take a partner, and he was fortunate in finding the right parties in A. Wykoff & Bro., who were then conducting an extensive trade in general pro- duce, buying in this section and carrying it by team to different cities, including New York. For a number of years they continued together and in ad- dition to their mercantile, huckstering and lumber business they leased and operated a large forge near Stroudsburg, manufacturing iron. In the mean- time our subject's brother Joseph, who had been em- ployed by him as a clerk, became a partner ; but in time the interests of the firm became so intricate and exacting that they decided to dissolve the partner- ship, Mr. Wallace retaining the lumber business, to which he has devoted much time and energy. There is no phase of this business with which he is not familiar, and in the thirty-three years in which he has been connected with it he has cleared several thousand acres of timber land. His first purchase was of land in the mountains belonging to Jay Gould, then a tanner residing in what is now known as Gouldsboro, Penn. Mr. Wallace built a sawmill and store on this tract, and for several years he made a specialty of shipping spruce trees by railroad to Water Gap, then rafted on the Delaware river to Philadelphia for ship spars, some being cut from his land and others being bought in the vicinity. As the spruce timber ran out, he adapted his business to the changed conditions, and in addition to his old mill and store in the mountains he operated a saw- mill and planing-mill at Stroudsburg. At one time Mr. Wallace was president of the Stroudsburg Na- tional Bank, and throughout his long and active business life there has been only one venture in which he lost money. This was in the woolen-mills at Stroudsburg, but the loss of about $50,000 in that enterprise simply taught him, as he says, not to go into any business that he did not understand to the minutest detail. His friends affirm, however, that the

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 6

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