Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 84

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 84
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 84
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 84
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 84

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and, in fact, his sympathies are given to every form of progress. He has a pleasant home in Milford, which was built by himself in 1875. On December 13, 1865, he was married, at Succasunna Plains, Morris Co., N. J., to Miss H. Ida King, and they had one daughter, Harriet H., born November 19, 1881, who keeps house for her father.

Mrs. Horton, who was much beloved among her associates, was born in 184I, at Morristown, N. J., and died October 10, 1897. Her parents, James and Charity W. ( Watson) King, were highly es- teemed residents of that locality, and her father, who was a cabinet maker in his younger days, be- came a successful farmer there. They had the fol- lowing children: Cornelia married Mayor Levi Chase, an attorney at San Francisco, Cal .; Henri- etta, twin of Cornelia, married Nelson Solomon ; Adolph, deceased, never married; Watts married Nancy Garrison; Milton T. married Catherine Lip- poncott ; James also married; Georgianna was the wife of Peter Vanness; Maggie married John W. Hurd; H. Ida was the wife of our subject; and Charity married H. S. Hopkins.

AVERY BURDICK. If one desires to gain a vivid realization of the rapid advance in civiliza- tion which the last half century has brought about, he can listen to the stories men who are still living among us can tell of their boyhood. The log-cabin home in the clearing, the still ruder school-house with its rough seats made of slabs, its limited range of studies, and its brief terms arranged on the sub- scription plan, the routine of work at home, un- relieved by any of the modern devices, by which machinery is made to do in a short time what for- merly occupied the entire year, these and many similar descriptions will bring up in sharp contrast the advantages of to-day. The subject of this sketch, a venerable and highly-respected citizen of Clifford township, Susquehanna county, can relate many interesting reminiscences of this sort.

Mr. Burdick was born upon his present farni, June 28, 1823, a son of Thomas and Martha (Burns) Burdick. The father was born in Hop- kinton, R. I., August 16, 1791, son of Billings Burdick and his wife Hannah, and in 1816 came to Clifford township, Susquehanna Co., Penn., with his brother Billings and his uncle, Elias Burdick. who located in what became known as the Burdick settlement. The mother was born in Orange coun- ty, N. Y., June 29, 1799, and when a child was brought to Susquehanna county by her parents, who made the journey through the wilderness in a sleigh. The parents of our subject were married in Clifford township, February 27, 1820, and took up their residence upon the farm where our subject now resides. The father followed the occupation of farming, and, as a prominent citizen of his com- munity, he was called upon to serve in severa: town- ship offices, and as a commissioner of Susquehanna county for three years. He was a Democrat in politics, and a Baptist in religious belief. He died

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on the old homestead, January 5, 1853, and his wife, who was also a consistent member of the Bap- tist Church, died within a mile of the home farm, on the same road, January 27, 1877, the remains of both being interred in the Burdick cemetery, on the old home farm of Elias Burdick. Their chil- dren were as follows: Thomas, Jr., born July 13, 1821, married ( first) Mariette Ellis, and ( second ) Sarah Gaylord, and died April 26, 1864; Avery, our subject, is next in the order of birth; Asher, born January 23, 1826, married Maria Ellis, and is a retired farmer of Clifford township; Lydia A., born April 11, 1828, is the widow of Samuel Hutchins, of Jermyn, Penn .; David, born Decem- ber 23, 1830, married (first) Mrs. Cory Whitings, and ( second) a lady named Pickerine, and follows farming in Harford, Susquehanna county ; Jerusha E., born December 4, 1833, is the wife of Walter Lyon, a farmer of Clifford township; Marvin, born November 28, 1835, died at the age of three years ; and Elizabeth A., born May 16, 1838, is the wife of Elliott Sweet, a merchant of Benton Center, Penn. Our subject's paternal great-grandparents were Stephen and Mary (Church) Burdick; his mater- nal grandfather was David Burns.

Avery Burdick spent his entire life upon his present farm, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and has a well-ordered place of 140 acres, which his son, Ralph T., now carries on for him. He well remem- bers when this region was almost an unbroken wil- derness, and when the wolves were quite numer- ous. In walking to Montrose, a distance of thirty- two miles, which he would make in seven or eight hours, they would often cross his path. In polit- ical sentiment Mr. Burdick is a Democrat, and he gives his support to every enterprise which he be- lieves will prove of public good.

In Montrose, October 1, 1855, Mr. Burdick was united in marriage with Miss Mary O. Gil- bert, who was born in Delhi, Delaware Co., N. Y., August 28, 1833, a daughter of George and Sally ( Bill) Gilbert, natives of Connecticut. The father conducted a grocery store in Delhi for some years. He died in that State in 1879, aged eighty-seven years, his wife in 1835. Their children were Miles G., who died in the Mexican war; Susan, deceased in California, who married her cousin, also named Gilbert ; Adelia, deceased wife of James Burns ; Pau- lina, deceased ; and Mary O., wife of our subject. For his second wife the father married Mrs. Maria (Campbell ). Slote, by whom he had four children : William (a blacksmith), George (a decorator ), Ann E. ( who first married a Mr. Newcome and second Wheeler Schomaker ), and Hattie ( wife of Thomas O'Neil ), all of Delhi. Mrs. Burdick's pa- ternal grandfather was a prominent Presbyterian minister of Connecticut.

Mr. and Mrs. Burdick have three children, namely : ( I) Nelson L., a farmer and painter of Clifford township, wedded Mary Spoor, and has seven children. (2) Ralph T. is mentioned be- low. (3) Lavern, a photographer of Jermyn,

Penn., married Alice Carpenter, and has two daughters.

RALPH T. BURDICK was born on the old home- stead, March 9, 1861, and remained there until 1890, when he went to Carbondale, Penn., where for six months he aided in the construction of the electric street railroad. In 1891 he took instruction in crayon work with his brother in Carbondale, with the intention of following it as a profession, but in response to his father's wishes returned home to take charge of the farm. As an artist he is natur- ally gifted, and displayed considerable talent in boyhood. He now devotes his attention to the oper- ation of the farm during the summer months, and through the fall and winter follows his profession with good success.

JAMES E. JOHNSTON, one of the most systematic and thorough agriculturists of Great Bend township, is a native of Susquehanna county, born in Gibson township November 17, 1834, and on the paternal side is of Scottish descent, his great- grandparents, James and Annie ( Anderson ) John- ston, having been natives of Scotland. The great- grandfather was a sea-faring man, and was cap- tain of a vessel sailing on the Atlantic. After the Revolutionary war, in which he served under Gen. Washington, in both the army and navy, he located in New Jersey, and became the owner of a number of slaves. There both he and his wife died. They reared a family of six children, three sons and three daughters: Lewis married and settled in New Brunswick, N. J., where he died. The second son, after reaching manhood, went West, and was never heard from again. Annie married, and died in New Brunswick, N. J. Margaret married a Mr. Wald- ron, and died in New Jersey, leaving sons who are now wealthy and prominent wall-paper manufac- turers of New Brunswick, N. J. Betsy married Abraham Van Vedenburg, of New Brunswick. Andrew, the grandfather of our subject, completes this family.

Andrew Johnston was born in Hunterdon county, N. J., in 1765, and married Elizabeth Sned- iker, who was born in the same county, in 1776, a daughter of Garrett Snediker, a native of Holland. After his marriage Andrew Johnston located in Kirkwood, Broome Co., N. Y., and for a number of years conducted a hotel on the Newburg turnpike at that place, but later removed to Conklin, same county, where his death occurred. His wife fol- lowed him to the grave in 1868, dying at the home of their son John, in Hallstead, Penn., at the ex- treme old age of ninety-three years. In their fam- ily were seven children, as follows: (I) James was born in .1797, in Kirkwood, N. Y., which was also the birthplace of the other children. (2) Gar- rett, our subject's father, was second in the family. (3) Ursula, born in 1803, became the wife of Joel Stinebeck, of Gibson, Susquehanna Co., Penn. (4) Kenneth A., born in 1807, married Nancy Kennedy, of Wayne county, Penn., and located in.

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New Milford, Susquehanna county, where he died in 1877, leaving three daughters, Julia, Rhoda and Evelyn. The first and last named still reside at the old home in New Milford. (5) David, born in 1809, married Charlotte Hancock, of Philipsburg, Center Co., Penn. He conducted a hotel in Clear- field, Penn., for a number of years, and later moved to Shamokin, Penn., where he died in May, 1894, leaving four sons, John (of Clearfield), Clarence and Edward (both of Shamokin), and Owen ( of Harrisburg). (6) John, born in 1812, has for many years been one of the leading business men of Great Bend and Hallstead, and has been promi- nently identified with the building up of those towns. He has also taken an active part in ad- vancing Church and educational interests, is a lead- ing member of the Presbyterian Church in Hall- stead, and was largely instrumental in the erection of the fine new edifice there in 1895. In 1842 he married Miss Phobe Chamberlain, who died in 1889, leaving two daughters-Flora, now the wife of Richard Gillespie, a stockman of Great Bend township; and Theodocia, wife of J. R. Millard, foreman of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad shops at Hallstead, where they reside with her father at his fine home at that place. (7) An- drew, born in 1815, married Adaline Sloat, of Orange county, N. Y. For many years he was a merchant in Susquehanna county, Penn., but later removed to near Scranton, where he died in June, 1898, leaving two sons and one daughter, Mary (a resident of Scranton, Penn.), and Revillo and Merion (who are both living in the West).

Garrett Johnston, our subject's father, was born in Kirkwood, N. Y., in 1800, and was educated in the district schools of Broome county. When a young man he married Miss Amanda Smith, of Susquehanna county, Penn., a daughter of Rans- ford and Martha Smith, of Herrick township, who were born in Connecticut. Their ancestors were among the Pilgrim fathers who came to this coun- try from England and located in Rhode Island. For some years Ransford Smith engaged in the manu- facture of brick in Herrick township, Susquehanna county, and also followed shoemaking to some extent. There both he and his wife died. In their family were nine children, four sons and five daughters : Ransford, Benjamin, Samuel and Alexander, Mrs. Corbett (of Broome county, N. Y.), Mrs. Hathaway (of Liberty township, Susquehanna county), Mrs. Johnston (the mother of our subject), Theodocia (who married Marshall Dimock), and Sarah (who married John Cole- man). For a few years after his marriage Garrett Johnston lived in Corbettsville, and tlien removed to Gibson, there erecting a woolen-mill and engag- ing in the manufacture of cloth until 1844, when he came to Great Bend. Here he also built a mill, and he operated the same for a number of years, but finally sold it and retired to his farm at the Bend, where he lived until his death in 1883. His wife died in 1890. Both were faithful members

of the Presbyterian Church, and commanded the respect and esteem of all with whom they came in contact. To this worthy couple were born nine children, five sons and four daughters, namely : (1) Caroline, born in Mt. Pleasant, Wayne Co., Penn., in 1825, was educated in the schools of Honesdale, and married William L. Phillips, of New York, who was for some time a commission merchant in Chicago, Ill., and from there removed to western lowa. He next located in Blooming- ton, Ill., to educate his children, and from there returned East to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was engaged in business until his death, in 1892. He left a wife and three children, Alice, Charles and Edgar, all residents of Brooklyn. (2) Jane E., born in Mt. Pleasant, Wayne county, in 1827, was also educated at Honesdale, and married David Scott, of Susquehanna county, who is now engaged in farming in Houston, Del. They have two sons, Julius, a printer, of Newburg, N. Y. ; and Irvin, a tinner by trade, who is married and lives in Mil- ford, Del. (3) Andrew G., born in Mt. Pleasant, Wayne county, in 1830, married Jane Sommers, of Summersville, Susquehanna county, and first located in Newark, N. J., where he engaged in the cooper- age business for two or three years. Subsequently he was for some years a stock dealer in Chicago, Ill., then spent a short time in Missouri, and from there moved to western Kansas. He has one daughter, Nellie. (4) Harriet A., born in Gibson, in 1832, was well educated in the schools of Har- ford. She died at the age of fifty-two years. (5) James E. is next in the order of birth. (6) Rans- ford, born in 1836, is a graduate of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is now engaged in the nursery business near Georgetown, Del. He married Barbara Starckels, of that State, and has three daughters, Katie, Lizzie and Bertha. (7) Ellen, born in 1839, married Rev. George Phinny, of Ohio. They first lived in Peoria, Ill., and later in Cleveland, Ohio, where he died, leaving two children, Albert J. and Georgie, who are still with their mother in Cleveland. She is a graduate of the schools of Montrose, Penn., and of the college at Oberlin, Ohio, and has taken a very prominent part in the National Christian Temperance Union, in Ohio, as a lecturer and president of the State organization. (8) Albert T., born in Gibson, in 1841, began his education in Harford, Penn., and later graduated at the Wyoming Seminary, Kings- ton. He studied law, and for a time engaged in practice in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he married Louisa Kohler, of Delaware, who died leaving one son, Joseph, now a resident of England. For his second wife he married Martha L'Homedeau, of Brooklyn, where they make their home, but he is now in England, where he has business interests. He is also largely interested in coffee plantations in Mexico. By his second marriage he has three children, Albert, Florence and Harry R. (9) Ed- gar, born in 1843, graduated in civil engineering at Ann Arbor, Mich., later completing the medical

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course at that place, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D., since which time he has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Gibsonburg, Ohio. He is interested in oil speculations in that State. He married Mary and has two children, Lurdo and June.

At the family homestead at Gibson, James E. Johnston, subject of this sketch, was born, and he was educated in the Harford Academy. When a boy he met with a sad misfortune, losing his right arm in his father's woolen mill. In early manhood he spent a short time in Chicago, Ill., and then went to Iowa, where he passed the following four years, but in 1859 he returned home and was with his father in the woolen and sawmill business, also having charge of the two farms belonging to the latter. In October, 1864, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Sarah J. Wilber, of Great Bend, a daughter of John P. and Eurice (Taggart) Wil- ber, of Susquehanna county. She was born in 1843, and educated in the schools of New Milford. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have come four chil- dren: (I) Ida A., born October 4, 1868, is now the wife of James Hutchings, a leading shoe dealer of Hallstead, and they have had three sons, James, Walter, and Roy M. (who died in infancy ). (2) Carrie B., born in Great Bend, in 1870, graduated at the Mansfield Normal, of Tioga county, Penn., and is a successful teacher, having taught in the high schools of Mauch Chunk for six years. (3) Charles K. died in infancy. (4) Kenneth D., born in 1877, was educated in the home schools, and now manages the home farm.

For four years after his marriage Mr. John- ston lived in his father's house, near the woolen mill, and then removed to his present home, which was given him by his father, his time and attention having since been devoted to agricultural pursuits. He has remodeled his residence, erected a new barn, and made many other improvements upon the place which add to its value and attractive appear- ance, so that he now has one of the most desirable farms in Great Bend township. He was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, of which his father was an active member for many years, and to which his wife also belongs. Politically he has always been identified with the Republican party, and he has most efficiently served as school director for nineteen consecutive years, and poormaster of his township for several terms. In manner he is pleasant and cordial, which, combined with his; sterling worth, makes him one of the popular citi- zens of his native county.

ULRIC B. RICE, of New Milford township, Susquehanna county, is an intelligent and enter- prising agriculturist, one of those whose influence and example make our rural communities centers of good order and progress.

Mr. Rice was born May 10, 1857, at Lakeside, in New Milford township, a son of Daniel W. Rice, whose biography appears elsewhere. During boy-

hood our subject assisted in the work of the farm while attending the local schools, and at eighteen he began teaching at Maple Ridge, Susquehanna coun- ty, meeting with such success that he was employed five consecutive winters. On leaving home, at the age of twenty-one, he worked two summers among neighboring farmers, and then located at his present homestead, which contains seventy-four acres, and is well adapted to general farming. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and his fellow citizens have frequently chosen him to office in the township, as he has served three years as clerk, three years as collector, and two as constable. On November 25, 1879, he was married at New Milford to Miss Ada Foot, and they have one son, George P., now at home.

Mrs. Ada Foot Rice is a native of New Milford township, and is a member of an old Colonial fam- ily, one of her ancestors, Nathaniel Foot, an En- glishman, having settled in Connecticut in 1633. The Foot family is mentioned more fully elsewhere. Mrs. Rice's grandparents, Charles and Rebecca (Wellman) Foot, located in this section at an early day. Ira D. Foot, father of Mrs. Rice, was born in New Milford township, and followed the carpenter's trade there for many years. He was highly re- spected as a citizen, and at times held local offices. His death occurred at Binghamton, N. Y., Novem- ber 28, 1884, at the age of sixty-three, his remains being taken to New Milford for interment. He married for his first wife Miss Charlotte A. Van Housen, of New Milford township, daughter of William and Prudence (Ford) Van Housen, na- tives of Greene county, N. Y., and early settlers in New Milford township. Mrs. Charlotte Foot died of smallpox January 16, 1865, aged forty-one years, and was buried at New Milford. Mr. Foot married, second. Mrs. Belinda Smith, now .de- ceased. By his first marriage there were eight chil- dren: Estella A., Mrs. H. V. Hamilton, a dress- maker in St. Paul, Minn. ; Eliza, a successful teacher in Susquehanna county; William H., who is men- tioned more fully below; Henry and Hattie, who died in childhood; Ada, Mrs. Rice; Alvin D., who died April 10, 1877, aged fifteen years; and Irene, wife of Daniel Foster, a farmer in Jackson township. By the second marriage there was one child, Verna, now Mrs. George Brown, of Binghamton, New York.

WILLIAM H. FOOT was born September 3, 1851, in New Milford township, and for a number of years has been engaged in general farming there. When a boy of seventeen he learned the carpenter's trade with his father, and he still follows that busi- ness in connection with his other work. At the age of twenty-one he purchased the family home- stead, and in 1885 he removed to his present farm of sixty acres. In 1882 he was employed as a fire- man on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western rail- road, continuing about one year. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and he has served four terms as inspector of elections ; six years as commissioner

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of the poor; three years as constable; three years as collector ; and three as supervisor, his ability and fidelity to duty winning the commendation of the people. On October 21, 1879, he was married, in Harford township, Susquehanna county, to Miss Florence L. Weed, and they have two sons, Charles W. and Alvin W.

JAMES MCKINNEY. To some favored indi- viduals success comes without apparent struggle, to others it is the consequence of brave and perse- vering effort. Between the two classes the greater meed of praise must be bestowed upon him who wins his spurs. Among the prominent legal repre- sentatives of Susquehanna county may be named James McKinney, now in the practice of his profes- sion in Forest City. He is pre-eminently a self- made man.

Among the many Irish refugees whom hard times and famine compelled to leave their native land, about the year 1848, and seek new homes in America, were James and Honora (O'Neill) Mc- Kinney. They were natives of County Clare, and both were highly connected in the Emerald Isle, I:ut the beck to better fortune led them across the ocean. James McKinney was a farmer. He first located in Sullivan county, N. Y., and later removed to Susquehanna, where he and his wife died. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious con- nection a member of the Roman Catholic Church. The children of James and Honora Mckinney were : Margaret, wife of Jeremiah Houlihan, of Susque- hanna county; Bridget, who died at the age of twenty-six years; Honora, who died at the age of twenty-four ; and James, the subject of this sketch.

James McKinney was born November 26, 1858, in Broome county, N. Y., and received his educa- tion in both the public and parochial schools. In Susquehanna he learned the trade of a cylinder molder, which he followed for four years. In 1879 he was elected city tax collector of the borough of Susquehanna, and served also as a member of the city council. In 1881 Mr. Mckinney received the appointment of private secretary to Congressman Post, and in 1883 was appointed a record clerk in the House of Representatives. Mr. Mckinney made good use of the opportunities afforded by his life in Washington. His position gave him a keen insight into the social and legislative phases of the National Capital, but he did not yield to the bland- ishments of social divertissement to an injudicious degree. Rather he "burned the midnight oil." He attended Columbian Law University and spent his leisure time in study.

Receiving the appointment of postmaster at Susquehanna in 1885 he returned to that city, and in connection with his official business entered mer- cantile life, becoming the leading boot and shoe dealer. But during the continuance of his term he finished his course of reading law, and in 1897 was admitted to the Bar. He located the same year at Forest City, where he remained two years and ac-

quired a rapidly growing practice. On July 10, 1899, he was appointed land agent for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co., with his of- fice at Scranton, Lackawanna county. At the Dem- ocratic convention held at Montrose in August, 1898, Mr. Mckinney drafted and presented to the convention a resolution nominating Judge D. W. Searle as a non-partisan judge, although he had been already nominated by the Republican con- vention, and carried it through. Mr. Mckinney was then nominated, by acclamation, for Congress, to represent the four counties of Bradford, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming, but he declined, as his law practice would not permit him to under- take the duties of the incumbency. Mr. Mckinney is a lawyer of broad and liberal spirit, and is de- voted to his profession. While at Forest City he was attorney for all the municipalities, and he is now attorney for the school board of Fell township, Lackawanna county. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. He a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and is affiliated with the Knights of Colum- bus. In physique he is a splendid type of manhood.

WILLIS E. BABCOCK is the owner of a farm in Bridgewater township, Susquehanna coun- ty, a region noted for its many beautiful homesteads. Here he has spent his entire life, and the greater part of his time and attention have been devoted to agricultural pursuits.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 84

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