Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2, Part 36

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1098

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2 > Part 36
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2 > Part 36
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2 > Part 36
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2 > Part 36

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WILLIAM SAWYER. Pike county has many well-to-do and successful citizens who are the architects of their own fortunes, and are connected largely with the official life of their community. Among these is the subject of this personal history. who makes his home in Westfall township, and is

successfully engaged in both carpentering and farm- ing at Mill Rift.

Mr. Sawyer was born on a part of his present farm, July 8, 1856, and is a son of John N. Sawyer, whose sketch appcars elsewhere. Though he made his home with his parents until he attained the age of twenty-five, he commenced earning his own live- lihood at the age of twelve by working for neigh- boring farmers, being thus employed until his mar -. riage. He then erected his present comfortable residence, and has since given much attention to carpentering. He is a natural mechanic, having never served an apprenticeship at his trade; but at the age of twenty-two commenced working at the same with his father-in-law. He is an ardent sup- porter of the Democratic party, and his fellow citi- zens recognizing his worth and ability have called him to office. He acceptably served as township auditor for two years, and was elected justice of the peace for a term of five years, but resigned at the end of three. Religiously he is a member of the Evan- gelical Church.

At Mill Rift, in December, 1882, Mr. Sawyer was united in marriage with Miss Mary Winter- mute, and they have become the parents of three children ; Nellie E., John and Wilber W.

Isaac Wintermute, Mrs. Sawyer's father, is a well-known general merchant and postmaster at Mill Rift, where he is also engaged in the manufac- iure of kindling wood. He was born in Stillwater township, Sussex county, N. J., October 4, 1819, and is a son of Joseph R. and Elizabeth ( Maines ) Win- vermute, who were of German extraction and spent their entire lives in Sussex county. The father, a farmer by occupation, died in 1858, aged seventy- eight years, the mother in 1888, aged eighty-four years, and both were buried in Tranquility cemetery, Sussex county. Their children were : Jacob, a brick manufacturer of Muscatine, Iowa, who married Susan Quick; Isaac, the father of Mrs. Sawver; Margaret, deceased wife of John P. Vought : Elias, deceased ; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Ralph Titus; Levi, who married Jane Cowks, and is sexton of the cemetery at Tranquility. N. J. : Jane, wife of Philip Savercool, a farmer of Sussex county ; and Winfield, a carpenter of Port Jervis. N. Y., who married Ann Van Akin. Mrs. Sawyer's paternal great-grandpar- ents were Peter and Rachel ( Rhodes ) Wintermute, the former a native of Germany, the latter of Eng- land. He was a merchant and farmer at Stillwater, Sussex county. N. J .. and was the father of the tol- lowing children: George. Peter, Mrs. Margart Dodder, Charles. William, Joseph R. and Mrs. Elsie Wilson.

Isaac Wintermute has been three times mar- ricd. In 1845, in Westfall township, Pike Co., Penn., he wedded Miss Catherine. danghter of Ben- jamin C. Van Akin, and she died leaving one child, Elizabeth Ann, now deceased, who first married Ed- ward Lucky and ( second) Mark Van Etten. Mr. Wintermute's second wife was Kate J. Nearpass, a daughter of Walter Nearpass, of Sussex county, N.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

J., and to them were born four children : Levi (de- ceased), who married Cora Allen; Jennie, wife of Nathan Smith, an engineer of Middletown, N. Y .; Mary, wife of our subject; and George, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1866, at the age of thirty-two years. For his third wife Mr. Wintermute married Mrs. Hannah ( Davis) Sawyer.

CALVIN C. SHANNON, Among the pros- perous and intelligent farmers of Pike county, the record of whose lives fills an important place in this volume, it gives us pleasure to commemorate the name of this gentleman, who is now carrying on operations as a general farmer in Lackawaxen town- ship, and is meeting with a well deserved success.

Mr. Shannon was born in that township, Jan- mary 17, 1840, and there was reared to manhood in nich the usual manner of country boys, acquiring his education in the common schools of the neighbor- hood, and assisting his father in the farm work, and also in his hotel and store. In this way he ac- quired an excellent knowledge of business methods which has been of much practical benefit to him in later years. For some years after his marriage he was employed as a carpenter on the Delaware & Hudson canal and the Erie railroad, but in 1879 he 'embarked in mercantile business in Lackawaxen, continuing the same for twenty-one years, and for fifteen years he also had charge of a restaurant at that place. Selling out in 1898, he bought the farm which his father had owned many years previous, and to its cultivation and further improvement he now devotes his energies. It consists of 350 acres, of which forty have been placed under the plow, and upon the place is an excellent orchard contain- ing apples. pears, peaches, etc. Upright and honor- able in all his dealings he has gained the confidence and respect of those with whom he has come in con- tact either in business or social life, and his friends throughout the county are legion. In his political affiliations Mr. Shannon is a stanch Republican, and he has been honored with several local offices, being school director many years, township auditor, county auditor and justice of the peace for the past

. ten years. Socially he has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for eleven years, and religiously both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.

On January 31, 1861, at Tustan. Sullivan Co., N. Y., Mr. Shannon was united in marriage with Miss Elmyra Bennett, and they have had the follow- ing children: Isabella, born October 5, 1862, died September 17, 1863: Albert Jeel, born November 8, 1864, married Marian Lewis, and is now. a mer- chandise broker of Jackson, Mich. : Amy Blanche, born December 13, 1865, is the wife of Floyd L. Pelton, a mail carrier of Port Jervis, N. Y. : Horace Lozelle, born May 26, 1868, married . Adelaide Brown, and is bookkeeper for a railroad company at New Haven, Conn. : Myra, born August 5, 1869, is the wife of Alfred Brink, of Port Jervis, N. Y. ; Friend B., born April 14. 1871, married Jennie Conklin, and

they reside at Kirkwood. Broome Co., N. Y., where he is employed as a telegraph operator ; Fonda 11 .. born August 10, 1873, died April 1, 1875; Stanley K .. born September 29, 1875, was killed on the Eric railroad June 14, 1894 ; and Bertha Edith, born Att- gust 24, 1879, is the wife of Dr. J. A. Allis, of Mont- clair, New Jersey.

James L. Bennett, Mrs. Shannon's father, who is at present located at Barry, Pike Co., Ill., was born February 1, 1823, in Wayne county, Penn .. where he grew to manhood and studied for the min- istry. In July, 1845, he married Ann Piper who was born March 10, 1826, and died July 16, 1875. Mrs. Shannon, who was born May 24, 1846, was their oldest child, the others being Sarah Ann, wife of M. Brown, a farmer of East Pharsalia, N. Y .: Richard James, who died at the age of eight years: Erastus, who died in infancy ; and Joseph F., who is married and lives in Illinois. The paternal grand- father was Luther Bennett, a native of Connecti- cut, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and spent his last years in Honesdale, Penn., where his death occurred. The maternal grandfather, James Piper. was born. reared and married in England, and on his emigration to America located in Oregon town- ship, Wayne Co., Penn., where he engaged in lum- bering and farming. His grandson. James Mills. now resides on the old homestead.

VALENTINE E. ENGELHART is one of the prominent and representative business men now engaged in agricultural pursuits and in the quarry- ing of stone in Shohola township, Pike county. where the greater part of his life has been passed. He was born there November 18, 1859, and is a son of Jacob Engelhart, a native of Germany, who when a young man came to America and found employ- ment in the Pennsylvania coal mines, where he re- mained some years. He then came to Shohola township. Pike county, and here was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth Bever, a sister of John W. Beyer, whose sketch appears elsewhere. MIr. Engelhart purchased twenty-one acres of land in Shohola township, cleared the same and erected a dwelling thereon, making it his home until called from this life. Besides engaging in farming, he was also employed by the Erie Railroad Company for thirty years. Valentine E. is the eldest of his five children: John married Annie Bridge, and is engaged in farming on the old homestead : Eliza- beth is the wife of Charles Fraley, a railroad en- gineer living in Shohola township; George is living on the old homestead with his mother and is en- gagged in farming : and Mary, twin sister of George. is the wife of William Lesner, a resident of Nor- folk, Virginia.

In his native township Valentine E. Engelhart grew to manhood, and at the age of twenty-one learned the trade of stone cutting, which he followed for some ten years in New Jersey. Albany and Rochester, N. Y., and Scranton, Penn. In New York City he was married, in 1891, to Miss Rosa

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Yager. who was born in Port Jervis, N. Y., in 1868. a daughter of John and Sophie ( Bower- sacks) Yager. Three children were born of this union: Alma, born in April, 1892; Hannah, who died in infancy; and Florence, who was born in 1896.

Returning to his native township, Mr. Engel- hart worked in the blue-stone quarries for a time. In 1893 he bought his present farm, consisting of 117 acres of land. sixty-five of which are tillable, and has since engaged in general farming, and also operates the stone quarries upon his place. In polities he is a Democrat, though somewhat inde- pendent in his views, and in religious faith both he and his wife are German Lutherans. Wherever known they are held in high regard, and have the friendship of a large circle of acquaintances.

STEPHEN CUDDEBACK (deceased) was for many years a leading citizen of Milford town- ship. Pike county, where he was actively identified with agricultural interests, and was also prominent in social and political life. Possessing a fine taste for literature, he took pleasure in drawing about him a cultured and refined circle of friends, and he was a member of a literary society at Port Jervis, N. Y .. for years previous to his death. His sound judgment and public spirit made him influential in local affairs, and he was one of the chief workers in the Democratic organization of his township, serv- ing in various offices, including that of justice of the peace, which he held for two terms of five years each.

Mr. Cuddeback was of French descent in the paternal line, and traced his ancestry to one of two brothers who came from Candebec, France, in 1662, during the conflict between the Huguenots and the Catholics. His grandparents, Henry and Esther (Demore) Cuddeback, were residents of Orange county, N. Y .. and his father, Simeon Cuddeback, was born and reared in that locality, and in early "manhood engaged in farming there. In 1852 Simeon Cuddeback removed with his family to Pike county, and settled upon the farm which was after- ward our subject's homestead. He was much esteemed as a citizen. and at times held township offices. He died January 24, 1886, at the age of seventy-nine, and his wife, Belinda Bennett, a native of Montague. N. J., died January 10, 1892, aged seventy-eight. the remains of both being in- terred in Laurel Grove cemetery at Port Jervis, N. Y. This worthy couple had the following chil- dren : James, who married Eliza Decker, and set- tled in Port Jervis, N. Y. ; Henry, a farmer at Ovid, Mich., who married Miss Greenleaf: George and Benjamin, who died in infancy; Stephen, our sub- ject : Thomas, a coal dealer in Dayton, Ohio, who is not married: Eli, who died in 1879, unmarried : Lydia, wife of William Martin, a farmer at Green- ville. N. Y. : and Franklin.

Our subject was born March 18, 1836. in Orange county. N. Y., and in 1852 he accompanied

his parents to Pike county. In 1862 he entered the United States navy, where he served one year, and he then settled down to agricultural pursuits at the homestead. This is a beautiful estate. comprising 336 acres, 160 of which lie on the Delaware river. and it was originally a part of the tract owned by William Brodhead. Mr. Cuddeback was an excel- lent farmer, his estate showing scientific manage- mient, and he was active until about five years before his death, two strokes of paralysis making him a helpless invalid. He passed away March 16, 1897, and liis remains were taken to Port Jervis for in- terment in Laurel Grove cemetery. On November 18, 1869, he was married at Suffolk. Va., to Miss Margaret Morris, whom he met while he was on a pleasure trip through the South. Eight children blessed the union: Miss Irene, who is at home : Lewis, who married Miss Maggie MeDermont, and resides in New York City ; and David, William H., Stephen, Blondine. Marie J. and Solomon V., who are all at home.

Mrs. Cuddeback, whose womanly qualities have won the esteem of all who know her, was born July 30, 1848, in Richmond, Va., a daughter of Patrick and Ellen ( Dowd) Morris. Her father, who was born in New York, was a stonemason Dy trade, and for many years was engaged in business in Rich- mond as contractor and builder, his death occur- ring there in 1858. His wife, who was a native of Virginia, died in 1861, aged forty-eight. They were devout members of the Catholic Church. Of their five children Mrs. Cuddeback was the eldest. William went west in 1872, and has never been heard from since. James, Ellen and Patrick died in infancy.

CALVIN .O. BILLINGS, a representative farmer and lumberman of Blooming Grove town- ship. Pike county, belongs to an old and honored New England family, which was founded in this country by five brothers of English birth who landed at Boston in 1635. Massachusetts and Con- necticut have been the home of his ancestors for many generations.

At an early day his great-grandfather, Thadeus Billings, Sr., traveled from Boston through the wilderness to the Connecticut river. locating near Windsor Locks, where he purchased land and engaged in farming. His son, Thadeus. moved.to Enfield, Conn .. where he continued to reside until called from this life, at the extreme old age of ninety-six years. His wife had died so.ne years previous. In the family were nine children, namely : Levi, who was killed in the Revolutionary war; Thadeus, who resided at Long Meadow. Mass .; Frastus and Eli, who resided in Wyoming Valley, Penn., whither they removed when young men ; David, who spent most of his life near the Hudson river, above Troy, N. Y .: Freegrace, the father of our subject : Lucy and Eunice, who joined the Shak- ers ; and Lowva, who married John Parker and later lived on the old homestead.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Freegrace Billings was born in 1777, on the old homestead in Connecticut, and spent his entire life there, dying December 5, 1822; he was thrown from a load of hay. He was married in Wilbraham, Mass., May 19, 1805, to Miss Sophronia Colley, who was born in 1787, daughter of John and Eleanor (Warner) Colley, and died in Springfield, Mass., February 17, 1834. Our subject is the youngest of their children and the only one now living, the others being as follows: Lorenzo, born February II, 1806, was a farmer of Somers, Conn., and died May 6, 1853; Eleanor, born August 11, 1807, mar- ried Henry Pomeroy, of Springfield, Mass .; So- phronia, born December 20, 1808, married Lorain Blodgett, of Long Meadow, Mass. ; Eunice, born December 25, 1810, married Alvin Hunn, of Long Meadow, Mass .; Roland, born September 6, 1812, died in Kansas at the age of seventy-eight years; Alzina, born in 1814, died at the age of five years, and Austin, born in 1816, died in boyhood.

Calvin O. Billings, our subject, was born Sep- tember 22, 1819, in Enfield, Conn., and as his father died when he was only three years old, he made his home with an uncle and aunt at Long Meadow, Mass., until he attained the age of four- teen, during which time he attended the common schools. Subsequently he pursued his studies for a time at Springfield, Mass., and in the Ellington Academy, at Ellington, Conn. At the age of four- teen he accepted a position as chore boy in a hotel at Springfield, and it was while working in that capacity for his board and clothes that he attended school. After learning the mason's trade at Hart- ford, Conn., he returned to Springfield, and from there went to Ohio, where he taught school during the winter months for four years. At the end of that period he returned to Hartford, Conn., but soon afterward went to New York City, where as a mason he successfully engaged in contracting and building for thirty years. Later he was interested in the manufacture of sash, door and blinds at Troy, N. Y., for three years, and in 1875 came to Blooming Grove township, Pike Co., Penn., locating on land which he had previously purchased. He now has between thirteen and fourteen hundred acres of wood land, seventy-five acres of which he has cleared and placed under a high state of cultivation, and is now quite successfully engaged in general farming during the summer months and in lumber- ing throughout the winter season. His has been a long and useful career, and the prosperity that has crowned his efforts is certainly well deserved. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and for the last twenty years he has most acceptably served as justice of the peace of Blooming Grove township. He is thoroughly impartial in meting out justice, his opinions being unbiased by either fear or favor, and his fidelity to the trust reposed in hiin is above ques- tion. Religiously he is a member of the Episcopal Church.

In New York City, December 23. 1845. Mr. Bil- lings was united in marriage with Miss Mary Fran-

ces Taylor, a daughter of William and Mary Taylor, the former a native of Johnston, N. Y., the latter of the Isle of Wight, England. Mrs. Billings was also born in Johnstown, N. Y., January 25, 1823, and died February 23, 1895. By her marriage she became the mother of the following children : Cal- vin O., Jr., born February 28, 1847, died Sep- tember 2, 1849; Celia Adelaide, born July 30, 1849, is living in New York City; Emma Augusta, born September 12, 1851, died January 10, 1857 : Mor- timer W., born September 21, 1853, married Alice Voss, and is a traveling salesman living in New York City; Ella Amelia, born April 8, 1856, is living in New York City; and Clarence, born August 3, 1858, attends to the work on the home farm.

THOMAS Y. BOYD, whose death, on March 7. 1889, is still fresh in the minds of his fellow citi- zens, was one of the best-known men in Wayne county, Penn., where for years he was an active fig- tire in the business and political life of the commu- nity, honored and esteemed as a deservedly success- ful self-made man, and a credit to the county where he passed all his busy, useful career.

Our subject was a son of James Boyd, who was born in 1795 in Philadelphia, and accompanied the Duffield family to Wayne county, Penn., in about 1808. as an apprentice boy. He married Nancy Canfield, and they settled on wild land in Damas- cus township, where he set about the work of clear- ing out a home and establishing himself on a good farm, a task which in those days of rude machinery was no inconsiderable one, for the pioneers experi- enced many drawbacks and hardships in the early times. His death occurred in 1842, and he was fol- lowed to the grave by his wife in 1848. Of their children, four survived them-Joseph, who was a resident of Warren county, Penn .: Caroline. Mrs. William Eighmy, of Damascus township .; David, who lived in Warren county, Penn .: and Thomas Y., whose name introduces these lines.

Thomas Y. Boyd was born January 9, 1823, in Damascus township, and received such education as the public schools of his boyhood afforded. but he began work at an early age, and the practical busi- ness experience which he acquired in his various transactions was by far the more important part of his training. After the father's death he embarked in the lumbering business in a small way, and he rafted down the Delaware river from Damascus to Philadelphia. becoming an expert steersman on that stream. well known among lumbermen especially all along his route. Ile made rapid progress along the road to prosperity. and as his interests widened his opportunities increased. In 1867. in partner- ship with Joseph Wood, he purchased the sawmill of Truman G. Tymerson, at what is now known as Boyd's Mills, this partnership continning until Mr. Wood's death. in 1877. after which Mr. Boyd con- ducted the business alone. A large steam sawmill was erected, and as time advanced he added other

That Boyd

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

enterprises, a gristmill, blacksmith shop and store on his mill property, and continued to buy in land until he was the owner of about 1,900 acres in Wayne county, for the most part timberland. After his marriage, which will be presently spoken of, he settled on the home near where his family still re- sides, built a residence and made many other im- provements, clearing out a large farm. In 1867 they removed to the mill property, on which they have since lived.

In 1854 Mr. Boyd was appointed postmaster at Eldred, holding that office until his removal to Boyd's Mills, where he was again appointed, and it was mainly through his influence that the daily mail was established between Boyd's Mills and Da- mascus, in 1870. Mr. Boyd became in time one of the most prominent and influential men in his sec- tion, not only in business, but in public life, and he was honored, at a special election in March, 1874, by being chosen as member of the State Legislature, the district at that time including Wayne and Pike counties; he was the first Republican to hold the office, the duties of which he discharged with his cus- tomary faithfulness and ability, so much so that in 1875 he was re-elected, this time representing Wayne county alone. He closed his legislative career in 1877, retiring with the esteem of all his constituents, whose approval and good will he had honestly earned during his public service, in which the judg- ment and excellent capabilities developed in a long and successful commercial experience manifested themselves constantly, and gave him an enviable prestige among his fellow legislators. Mr. Boyd commenced life in a humble way, and rose from the bottom round of the ladder to a position among the foremost men of his time and place amid obstacles which only the most determined and courageous would deem surmountable. Perseverance and un- tiring energy marked his whole life, and although his success was not an everyday occurrence, it was conceded on all sides that it was only the sure reward which comes to men of his character and firmness of purpose, no matter in what line they engage. He left a reputation unsullied by underhanded or dis- honest dealing, and his death, which occurred on March 7, 1889, from pneumonia. after an illness of only seven days, was regarded as a public loss in Wayne county, and especially in Damascus town- ship. His life was an exemplary one, in his busi- ness, public and social relations. and is an inspira- tion for any man who thinks that lack of education or capital are necessarily stumbling-blocks in the road to usefulness or prosperity.

On March 7, 1849, Mr. Boyd was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth J. Mitchell, whose par- ents, Isaac and Ursula Mitchell, were born and reared in Connecticut, coming thence to Damascus in an carly day, and doing their share in the early advancement of this section of Wayne county. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd became the parents of twelve chil- dren (of whom five survive), viz. : Mary, Emily. Linn, James and Asie all died of diphtheria within

sixteen days. Two children died in infancy. Jo- seph, Elizabeth, Irene S., Charles E. and Thomas 1. are all useful residents of Damascus township, and we give a brief record of their lives. Josepli, born in 1860, received a good education in the acad- emy at Damascus, and is at present holding the po- sition of treasurer of Wayne county, making his home in Honesdale; he married Miss Lydia Hall. of this county. and they have two children, Lulu Irene and E. Rush. Elizabeth, born in 1862, is the wife of Edgar Clark, who is a merchant at Boyd's Mills; they have four children, Carrie E., Boyd. Russell and Anita. Irene S., born in 1864, married Arthur Noble, of Damascus, and they reside on his farm in that township; they have two children. Mary J. and Clarence A. Charles E., born in 1866. received his early education in the public schools of Damas- cuis, and finished his literary education in Hones- dale ; he is a professional horseshoer, having learned the blacksmith's trade under Prof. George E. Rich : in 1893 he wedded Miss Nancy Noble, daughter of Sexton and Lavina Noble. prominent people of Da- mascus, and they have two children, Robert and David. Thomas Y., born in 1868, received the greater part of his schooling in Damascus and Binghamton, N. Y., where he had a thorough com- mercial training, and he has developed marked busi- ness capacity, giving his time to the large interests connected with the mills and general business of the Boyd estate, which Mrs. Boyd. her two sons. Charles and Thomas, and her son-in-law, Edgar Clark, are now conducting. Their lumbering, milling and mercantile interests are among the most extensive in this section, and these young men have gained an enviable popularity in commercial circles by their skillful handling of the estate. the demands of which call into play no small amount of acute judgment and executive ability. Mr. Boyd at the time of his death held the office of postmaster at Boyd's Mills, and the authorities at Washington transferred the appointment to his wife, who has continued to con- duct the office up to the present time. The entire family are esteemed and admired by their neighbors for their many sterling qualities of head and heart, and they can always be counted upon for generous support in any worthy religious or charitable enter- prise, or any project which is for the general good and advancement. Mrs. Boyd and her family are all members of the Christian Church. The father belonged to the Baptist society. In fraternal affilia- tions he was a member of the F. & AA. M .. uniting with the lodge at Callicoon, N. Y., to which his son Joseph also belongs.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 2, Part 36

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1098

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1098