Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 65

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 65
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 65
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 65
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 65

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Frederick W. Kiefer was reared in his native land, and received a good German education, but attended school only one month after coming to this country. Early in life he learned the cabinet maker's trade, after which, at the age of, twenty years, he commenced making cartridges for the German government, in which occupation he was en- gaged for three years, at the end of that time com- ing to America. He first located in Brooklyn, Sus- quehanna Co., Penn., where he purchased a farm and remained for two years; then removed to Jes- sup township, where the following four years were passed .. Since then he has resided upon his present farm in Rush township, and by his neighbors he is ranked as a skillful farmer and praiseworthy citizen. In 1895 he had the misfortune, while load- ing hay, to have something enter his eye, destroying its sight. Fraternally, he is connected with the Grange; religiously is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; politically he is iden- tified with the Republican party.

Mr. Kiefer has been twice married, first in 1870, to Miss Louisa Hohn, by whom he had one child, Frank, who wedded Mary Underhill, and is now engaged in farming in Binghamton, N. Y.

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Mrs. Kiefer died in May, 1873, aged twenty-four years, and was buried at Brooklyn Center. She was also a native of Germany, and a daughter of Fred- erick Hohn, who remained in that country. At New Milford, Penn., in 1877, Mr. Kiefer married Miss Mary Underhill, and by this union the follow- ing children have been born: Berton E., Catherine A., Frederick D., Harriet M., Paul H., Effie L., Charles E. and Elizabeth M.

Mrs. Mary Kiefer was born in Dimock town- ship, Susquehanna county, April 7, 1852, and is a daughter of Dewitt C. and Nellie E. ( Higley) Underhill, the former born in Ulster county, N. Y., July 30, 1811, the latter in Delaware county, N. Y., November 10, 1816. They were married in Che- mango county, that State, in 1835, and from there came to Susquehanna county, Penn., three years later, locating first in Bridgewater township. In 1840 they removed to Dimock township, where they lived until March, 1895, since which time they have found a pleasant home with our subject and his wife. In Chenango county, N. Y., the father learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed in Dim- ock township, Susquehanna county, in connection with farming. For many years both he and his wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are sincere and consistent Christians. In their family were the following children : Simeon S., a farmer of Bridgewater township; Levi, de- ceased ; Robert, a minister of the Adventist Church, who is now in Lestershire, New York; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Penny, a farmer of Dimock township; William, who was killed during the war of the Re- bellion ; Sarah J., deceased ; Benjamin T., a farmer of Dimock township; Dorcas E., deceased wife of Marcus Smith; Polly M., deceased; Mary J., wife of our subject; Caroline and John J., who died young ; and Daniel G., a farmer of Dimock town- ship. Mrs. Kiefer's paternal great-grandfather, Israel Underhill, a farmer by occupation, was born in England, and was married in New York State to a lady of German birth. He died in Orange county, N. Y., in 1822, aged seventy-six years. The pa- ternal grandparents, John J. and Sarah (Barnhart) Underhill, were born, reared and married in New York, and in 1839 removed from that State to Di- mock township, Susquehanna Co., Penn., where the grandfather engaged in farming. Both died there in 1851, at the age of seventy-six years, and were buried in Susquehanna. Their children were De- witt C., father of Mrs. Kiefer; Sarah M., deceased wife of Joshua Stage; Barto, who died in Califor- nia ; and Saloma, deceased wife of Raymond Mayo. Mrs. Kiefer's maternal grandparents, Daniel and Dorcas (Davis) Higley, were both born in Dela- ware county, N. Y., and the former died in Clear- field county, Penn .; the latter at the home of a daughter in Rush, Susquehanna county.

LEONARD B. HINDS, late of Susquehanna, was born in 1828, at Montrose, son of Stephen Hinds. He attended Harford Academy, was a stu-

dent at Alexandria, Va., and read law in the office of the late Ralph B. Little, of Montrose, being ad- mitted to the Bar in 1851. In 1849 he located at Susquehanna where he continued in the practice until his death, in 1882, a period of thirty-three years. He was a man of marked ability, both as a. pleader and counselor.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HAINES, editor of The Wayne Independent, founded this influen- tial journal twenty-two years ago, and its success- ful growth as a business enterprise, and its influ- ence upon a wide constituency, are due to his care- ful, skillful and wise management.

Mr. Haines is of English extraction, being able to trace his ancestry back to Yorkshire, Eng- land, to the time of the subjugation of that coun- try bv William of Normandy, in the eleventh cent- ury, when the name was written Hayne, but the descendants have been in America for many gen- erations. His earliest American paternal ances- tor, James Haines, came from England and settled at Salem, Mass., in 1687. The following year he removed to Southhold, L. I. A maternal ances- tor, who was a sea captain, settled on Gardiner's Island, near New York, about the same time. His great-grandfather, John Frank, was many years postmaster at Southhold, L. I. Descendants of these early families removed to Orange county, N. Y., early in the eighteenth century, and were among the first settlers of that now popular and thriving region.

The father of our subject, R. R. Haines, a Quaker, was born in Orange county, N. Y., March 3, 1808. He was an intelligent and industrious farmer, possessed great firmness of character and purpose, was keenly alive to the thought of his day, and attached to the exacting cares of agricultural pursuits. In April, 1844, he married Mary F. Goldsmith, of Coldenham, N. Y., and immediately moved to a farm which he purchased in Mont- gomery county, Md., twenty miles up the Potomac from Washington, D. C. Here they were prosper- ous, lived in peace and happiness, and here were born their two children, Susanna and Benjamin F. The mother possessed a remarkably cheerful dis- position, the outgrowth of Christian kindliness and affection. The Civil war cast their home between the two contending armies. Mr. Haines was a pronounced anti-slavery man, and was known to favor outspokenly the Union cause. The prevail- ing sentiments in the community favored the Southern Confederacy. During the summer of 1861 the Federal forces entered the neighborhood, and Gen. Banks, in November, encamped with 40,- 000 troops between the Potomac and Mr. Haines' farm, and he permitted his home to be made a hos- pital for sick and invalid Union soldiers. The army moved on up the river two weeks later, and Mr. Haines decided to leave the South. He sold his horses, cattle and grain to Gen. Banks' quar- termasters, packed his most valuable goods, and,

Berj' F. Hainen

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

aided by two neighbors, he departed on the night of December 12, 1861, with two wagons, one con- taining his personal effects, the other his family. All of their household goods and farming equip- ments were left on the place. They reached the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, twenty miles distant, in safety, and were soon among friends in the North. Mr. Haines died in May, 1866, in Orange county, N. Y. Mrs. Haines died at Honesdale, Penn., at the home of her son, September 3, 1895. Both were buried in the Goodwill Church cemetery, near Montgomery, New York.

Benjamin F. Haines was born October 2, 1849, in Darnestown, Montgomery Co., Md. In his boyhood he was inured to daily toil upon the farm, but his education was not neglected. While school advantages were limited, his excellent home training was supplemented by instruction at a pri- vate school, taught by a Massachusetts lady by the name of Mrs. Merriam, on a Maryland slavehold- er's plantation. In 1866 he entered the Academy at Montgomery, N. Y., and was graduated from that institution and the Albany University. For a short time afterward Mr. Haines taught school at Lincolndale, town of Hamptonburg, Orange Co., N. Y. He then accepted a position as purser on the passenger steamer "Isaac P. Smith," plying be- tween Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. In 1870, when this steamer was taken off the line, Mr. Haines was offered the position of assistant purser on a trans-Atlantic steamer, but at the solicitation of his mother he returned home and adopted jour- nalism as his life work. While serving a three- years' apprenticeship at the printer's trade, in the Republican and Standard offices at Montgomery, N. Y., he contributed to various publications, and in 1874 he became editor of the Hancock (N. Y.) Herald. A year later he purchased the paper, and continued its publication until January, 1878, when, at the solicitation of Hon. W. M. Nelson, Hon. George S. Purdy and other prominent citizens of Wayne county, Penn., he decided to establish a paper at Honesdale. The first copy of this vent- ure, The Wayne Independent, was issued Febru- ary 7, 1878, as a small seven-column quarto. What it lacked in size it made up in force, piquancy and enthusiasm, and grew steadily from an initial sub- scription list of 900 to its present circulation of 3,650 copies.

Mr. Haines has continued its editor and pro- prietor to the present time. Besides the work on his own paper, he has been a contributor to the columns of the New York Herald, Philadelphia Times, and other city papers. Mr. Haines' success is due in part to a graceful and easy style of writ- ing, to the force and precision with which he clothes his productions, and also largely to the per- sistent labor and close application to which he was trained in his youth by his devout and devoted par- ents, and which he early recognized as essential to life's success. He still maintains the industrious habits of his earlier years, and is ever faithful and

chiligent in the duties that lie before him, impressing upon others about him, by his example, the wisdom of the same inestimable qualities.

Mr. Haines was married, May 25, 1875, to Mrs. Dr. James Low, nee Margaret Eager Mills- paughs, of Montgomery, N. Y., who died in 1887. The home life of this couple was a model of kindly hospitality. Mrs. Haines was a natural and skill- ful homemaker, building upon the foundation of economy and system the graces which experience, affection and appreciation naturally develop.

Mr. Haines published, in 1900, a book entited "Illustrated Wayne County," which contains be- tween six and seven hundred handsome engrav- ings. It is historical, industrial, biographical and also descriptive of the many and varied attractions of the county, its lakes, streams, mountains, beau- tiful landscapes, numerous picturesque summer re- sorts, its many pretty hamlets and its charming cap- ital, Honesdale, a little city embowered in maples and famed for its tidy streets and natural beauties.

E. H. CORTRIGHT, who is at present serv- ing as sheriff of Wayne county, is one of the young men of Honesdale who have at a comparatively early age attained solid positions among the wor- thy citizens of the town and county, and he is a well- known figure in local public affairs.

Mr. Cortright was born January 31, 1867, in South Canaan township, Wayne county, of which township his parents, C. A. and Elizabeth (Bat- tan) Cortright, were also natives, the father born in 1827, the mother in 1836. In 1870 this family removed to Honesdale, where Mr. Cortright en- gaged in the grocery business, continuing in that line until 1893, when he went into the livery busi- ness, which he still carries on in Honesdale. He and his wife enjoy good health, and are as active and well preserved as many who are still in the prime of life. They are Presbyterians in religious connection. Mr. Cortright, in his political prefer- ences, is a Republican.

E. H. Cortright was reared and educated in Honesdale, in his youth attending the common and high schools of that place, and subsequently Kingston Seminary, where he finished his literary training. He commenced business life as a clerk in his father's grocery establishment, and rose in time to a partnership in that concern, proving a valuable assistant in the management of the store. In 1896 he was the nominee of the Republican party for the office of sheriff of Wayne county, was duly elected, and took his position January 1, 1897, since which time he has endeavored to faithfully discharge the duties of his important incumbency. Mr. Cort- right has always borne the best of reputations, and he is a quiet, unassuming man, persistent in his defense of the right and worthy of the trust reposed in him by the people of Wayne county.

Mr. Cortright was married September 19, 1888, to Miss Florence Yale, a native of Wayne county, born January 29, 1867, in Lebanon township, and.

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one child, named Laura, has blessed their union. Socially Mr. Cortright unites with the Royal Ar- canum, the Exchange Social Club and the Amity Social Club of Honesdale.

OTIS GRINNELL comes of Revolutionary stock, his paternal grandfather, Joseph, having served as a soldier in a Massachusetts regiment during the war for American Independence. Joseph Grinnell had two sons, Obed and Joseph, the latter was born in 1778, and was by trade a tailor, but supplemented that occupation by teaching a school; probably along the primitive lines of education in- cidental to that early period of New England's his- tory, when the stalwart devout Puritans from Eng- land and Holland found it necessary to pay more attention to the obtaining of a subsistence than to the training of their children in secular learning. He appears to have been of an adventurous, not to say roving, disposition, and traveled extensively over most of the (then) territory of the United States.

Obed Grinnell, father of Otis, was born in 1782, and died in 1867. He married Catherine Chamberlin, of Connecticut, where he lived until 1833, in which year he removed to Harford town- ship. By occupation he was a shoemaker, but after coming to Susquehanna he purchased a farm and, abandoning his trade, devoted himself to agricult- ure. His wife survived him for two years, passing away in 1869, at the extraordinary age of eighty- six years. To this couple were born nine children, whose names and the dates of whose birth, in chron- ological order, are as follows: Diah, a sailor, born November 6, 1805, is now deceased; William R. I., at present a retired farmer, was born January 12, 1809; Edward (deceased), born February 12, 1810, with his son, Daniel, served in the Civil war; Ur- sula, born April 14, 1812, was married to Abram Pool, but not now living; John, born January 12, 1814, is deceased ; Jane (also deceased), born Sep- tember 6, 1816; Harvey, born October 8, 1818, is deceased; Otis, the subject of this sketch, born at Pomfret, Conn., October 23, 1821; and George, born February 24, 1824, died in infancy.

Otis Grinnell has been twice married. His first wife, whom he wedded when he was twenty- three years old, was Angeline Tiffany, a daughter of Amos Tiffany, of Harford township, where she was born July 12, 1813, and died March II, 1846. She bore to her husband three children: May, Ella M. and Amos, born September 13, 1848, March 31, 1853, and September 21, 1845, respectively. May married George Payne, a tinsmith of Harford ; and Ella was united to William Bailey, an attorney, of Kansas. Amos died in infancy. Mr. Grinnell's second marriage took place September 15, 1881, at Harford, his bride being Miss Nancy F. Lewis. He was then sixty years old, and his wife fifty- seven, and the marriage, while not blessed with is- sue, has proved a most happy one.

The present Mrs. Grinnell was born in Har-

ford township, September 2, 1824. She is a daugh- ter of Thurston and Meribah (Tenant) Lewis, who came from Stonington, Conn., in early youth. They were married November 13, 1816, in New Milford, subsequently removing to Harford township, where both died. Thurston Lewis was born December 21, 1792, and attained the age of eighty-one years ; his wife came into the world December 18, 1799, and passed out of it in 1875, in her seventy-sixth year. She is buried in Gibson township. They were the parents of eleven children, as follows: Havens T., born November 16, 1819, is now deceased; Robin- son, born August 13, 1821, resides in Gibson town- ship; Nancy F. (Mrs. Otis Grinnell) ; Abigail L., born August 21, 1826, is the widow of Oliver Payne, of Harford, Penn. ; Thurston ( deceased), born Feb- ruary 7, 1829 ; Betsey L., born January 2, 1831, mar- ried Henry B. Ellsworth, and is now deceased ; Nathan, born December 14, 1833, served gallantly through the Civil war, and now lives in Illinois ; Eme- line E., born February 6, 1833, is the widow of H. B. Ellsworth; Polly A., born February 22, 1837, is the wife of Forest Barnard, of Harford town- ship; Juliette, born July 18, 1839, is the widow of W. W. Wheaton, of Jackson township; and Almeda M., born March 15, 1842, married to Collins Rich- ardson, and has since died.

Tracing back Mrs. Grinnell's lineage still fur- ther, we find that her paternal grandparents were Robinson and Polly Lewis, of Long Island, who set- tled in Susquehanna county in comparatively early days. Robinson Lewis was for many years a sailor. Her mother's parents were Oliver and Abigail Ten- ant, who removed from Connecticut while Susque- hanna county was but sparsely settled.

Otis Grinnell is accounted one of the solid citi- zens of the county, owning one of its best farms, and enjoying the respect of all who know him. He has filled the offices of poor director, auditor and school director, the latter for six years. Born on the sterile soil and in the bleak climate of New England, he was compelled to go to work when a boy of nine years, and what he owns to-day he owes to his own industry, integrity and thrift. On com- ing to Susquehanna county he purchased a farm of 157 acres, making one payment thereon, and was subsequently obliged to appeal to the courts to ob- tain possession of his property. In 1896 he removed to his present home (still in Harford township), where he is passing a serene old age, enjoying, in company with his estimable wife, the rest which he has richly earned by a long life of usefulness and probity.

ANDREW J. GERRITSON, who passed away at Montrose, Susquehanna county, December 25, 1881, at the age of forty-eight, was one of the es- teemed and respected citizens of the place.

Mr. Gerritson was born in Dimock township, Susquehanna Co., Penn., son of Richard and Lydia (Hoar) Gerritson, farming people, who had come thither from Chester, Penn. They were Friends or

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Quakers. Our subject was reared on the farm, attended the neighborhood schools and the Harford Academy, and also taught school. When twenty- two years of age he came to Montrose, and for a year read law in the office of Ralph B. Little. In 1856, with the now Judge J. B. McCollum, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he purchased the Montrose Democrat, which paper they published together for two years, after which Mr. Gerritson conducted it alone up to his retirement, in 1869, owing to failing health. A stanch Democrat, he upheld the principles of his party with a ready pen and a strong arm, bending all his energies to this work, and formulating opinion through his paper by his own independent thought and action in the interest of principle and party, so wielded an in- fluence and tone of the press in Montrose that upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, in 1861, the read- ers of the Democrat were in full sympathy with the Union cause from the outset, and gave their influ- ence to put down the war; and on the call for emer- gency men, when the State was invaded by the Confederates, Mr. Gerritson himself volunteered. In 1863 he was postmaster of the House at Harris- burg, and in 1868 he was appointed and served as revenue assessor of the Montrose district. He was identified with the Montrose Bank from its organi- zation. The last years of his life were passed in the office of his preceptor in the law, settling estates and caring for his own private business. He was of a quiet, undemonstrative and unassuming nature, yet genial, affable and social. In quickness and clearness of perception and in vigor of mind he ex- celled. "The underlying principles of his life were based on honor and justice, while his character and abilities commanded respect. A man of em- inent virtues in private life, great executive and business capacity, with firm and positive opinions, and while respecting opinions of others, he gave his own clearly and never sought security from censure by silence or time-serving notoriety."

On December 31, 1856, Mr. Gerritson was mar- ried to Mary E., daughter of Capt. David and Es- ther ( Brink) Morgan, the former a native of Litch- field county, Conn., who settled in Brooklyn town- ship in 1810, and the latter a native of Bradford county, Penn. The widow of our subject still occu- pies the homestead at Montrose.

CHARLES KIESEL. The name of this well- known resident of Dingman township, Pike county, has long been familiar to the people of this sec- tion as that of one of their most valued citizens, resolute, energetic and enterprising. Here he has devoted his attention principally to general farming.

Mr. Kiesel was born in Mahlberg, Baden, Ger- many, August 15, 1827, and is a son of Joseph and Theresa (Beck) Kiesel, natives of Mahlberg and Aldorf, Germany, respectively. The father engaged in business as a master mechanic and cabinet maker, and was considered an expert model maker. He died in Germany in 1858, aged sixty-nine years,

his wife in 1872, aged seventy-two years. Their children were: August, who died in Germany ; Mrs. Theresa Reider; Joseph, Jr .; Caroline, who married Jacob Mayer, a tailor of New York City ; Charles; Stephen, a restaurant man of Freiburg, Germany; and William, a carpenter of Switzerland county, Ind. Charles, William and Caroline all came to the New. World. Our subject's paternal grand- parents were John and Baryer Kiesel, who remained in Germany.

In 1846 Charles Kiesel visited certain parts of France. In 1847 and 1848 he took part in the Ger- man Revolution, and being soon compelled to leave his Province, he, during the summer of 1848, went to Frankfort-on-the Main, where he worked at cab- inet making for nearly three years. On the recom- mendation of his employer he set out for Vienna, Austria, there to work on piano mechanics, and on his way thither he traveled twelve days on foot and the rest by steamboat and railway, crossing the Kingdoms of Wurtemberg and Bavaria, also part of the Austrian Empire. He remained about one year in Vienna; then traveled through Austro-Hun- gary, Bohemia, Saxony and Prussia, to Hamburg City ; thence to Bremen, where he embarked for the New World. It may here be mentioned that Charles · Kiesel worked on the building of the first railway in Baden, Germany (from Carlsrhue to Freiburg). While in Frankfort he was well known by the Roths- childs, and was often sent there to do fine finishing work. He also knew the Grand Duke of Hessen- Cassel, and saw Emperor Franz Joseph, of Austria.

In 1852, Charles Kiesel set sail for the United States, and after a tempestuous voyage of seventy-one days, landed in New York in May, that year. Here he worked at his trade as a piano maker and cabinet maker for four years. He then came to Pike county and located upon his present farm in Dingman township, where he first purchased thirty- three acres of wild land, to which he has added from time to time as his financial resources have in- creased until now he has 254 acres of valuable land, thirty of which are under a high state of cultivation and well improved. Politically he is identified with the Republican party, and fraternally has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1852.

In New York City, Charles Kiesel was mar- ried, June 4, 1853, to Miss Bertha Kuhn, also a native of Mahlberg, Germany, born September 8, 1831. There her parents, Jacob and Marian (Volk) Kuhn spent their entire lives, but she came to Amer- ica in 1851, with a party of sixteen. She is second in the order of birth in a family of six children, the others being: Louisa, who died unmarried; Julius, who died in New York City ; Pauline and Josephine, who both came to the United States, but returned to Germany ; and Amelia, who died in New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Kiesel have two sons : Charles J., born June 13, 1863, married Susie Sullivan, and is a car- penter and builder of Brooklyn, N. Y .; and Julius WV., born February 24, 1872.

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JULIUS W. KIESEL is one of the most progres- sive and energetic young farmers of Dingman town- ship, his home being with his parents. Although he attended school but fourteen months, he has by subsequent reading and observation become a well- informed man, and he has a good library, of which he makes excellent use. As a penman he is especially proficient, and he is also a good cabinet maker, though he does not follow the trade, but he is a carpenter and builder. He is a member of the West- ern New York Horticultural Society, has served as inspector of elections and at this writing is an effi- cient member of the County Republican committee. Since the above was written he was elected township auditor, and served one year as secretary of the Republican County Committee. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a weather and crop reporter to the Department of Agriculture.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 65

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