Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4, Part 6

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 6

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prise which he believed was for the public good. and he is therefore justly held in high esteem by his fellow men.

SYLVESTER H. JOHNSON, a well known general farmer, and manager of the "Fern Hall Hotel," a popular summer resort of Clifford town- ship, Susquehanna county, was born on the present site of the hotel, July 28, 1847, a son of Sylvester and Louisa ( Wood) Johnson, the former a native of Connecticut, the latter of Goshen, New York.

At an early day the father of our subject took up his residence in Carbondale, Penn., where he was first engaged in the butcher business and later in mercantile pursuits. He finally located upon the present farm of our subject, having purchased the place prior to coming to this State, and here fol- lowed farming in connection with -the real-estate business. He died in September, 1883, at the age of eighty-four years, his wife in September, 1882, at the age of seventy-three, and both were laid to rest in Clifford cemetery. She was a member of the Episcopal Church, and both were highly-re- spected and esteemed. To them were born eleven children, namely: Mary, who died in infancy; Anna, deceased wife of Rensselaer Wisnar ; Frances F., deceased wife of Howell Phinny ; Charles W., a retired coal merchant of Meadville. Penn .; Louisa, wife of D. C. Kenyon, a farmer of Felltown, Penn. ; Martha, who resides near "Fern Hall"; William, a resident of New -Brunswick, N. J .; Robert W., the owner of. "Fern Hall." and a prominent man- ufacturer of New Brunswick, N. J .; Sylvester H., our subject ; Edward M., a manufacturer of patent medicine at Plainfield, N. J. ; and James W., who is engaged in the manufacture of plasters with his brother at New Brunswick, under the firm name of Johnson & Johnson.

Our subject's paternal grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Johnson, were natives of Connecticut, and early settlers of Clifford township, Susque- hanna Co., Penn. The grandfather cleared a por- tion of the farm on which our subject now resides. and was quite extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits. The maternal grandparents spent their entire lives in Goshen, New York.

On leaving the parental roof, at the age of seventeen years. Sylvester H. Johnson went to Pitts- ton, Penn .. where he worked in a sash and blind manufactory for three years, and then followed the carpenter's trade in different parts of the State. For two years he was interested in the oil business in Bradford county, and then returned to the old home farm, which he has since carried on with marked success. While he attends to the outside work, his wife manages the hotel. This popular resort, known as "Fern Hall," is located on the old Johnson homestead, which at first comprised only 200 acres. but has since been doubled in extent. It is conveniently located only five miles from Carbon- dale, and there is a beautiful lake upon the place, four and a half miles in circumference and well

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stocked with pickerel, black bass, lake trout, etc. The hotel was built for Robert W. Johnson, in the fall of 1889, by Tiffany & Robertson, contractors of Carbondale, and five years later an addition was made, there being now forty-seven sleeping rooms, and ten other rooms. such as parlors, dining room and kitchen, besides two cottages for hired help. Upon the place there are also twenty-two cottages owned by city people.

On January 4, 1897, at Carbondale, Mr. John- son married Miss Carrie Fancher, a native of Mont- rose, Penn. Her father, Nehemiah Fancher, a farmer by occupation, was born July 20, 1824, in Bridgewater township; Susquehanna county, a son of Benjamin and Temperance (Scott ) Fancher, who at an early day removed from the Mohawk Valley, N. Y., to Bridgewater township, Susque- hanna Co., Penn., where Benjamin Fancher fol- lowed farming throughout the remainder of his life. He was born April 6. 1778, and dicd November 13, 1840, and his wife died May 24, 1844. Their chil- dren were Richard, Samuel. Sarah, Mary, Thomas, Ann, Caroline, Alvira, David, Nehemiah and Abi- gail, all now deceased with the exception of Abigail, wife of William Barber, of Hazleton, Penn. The grandparents of these children were Richard and Sarah Fancher. The family name was originally spelled Fanchon.

At White Haven, Penn., March 16, 1850, Neme- hiah Fancher married Miss Rachel Coyle, who was born in Dundaff. April 28, 1831. a daughter of Will- iam and Elizabeth ( Sutherland) Coyle, the former also a native of Dundaff, Penn., and the latter of Ohio. William Coyle, who followed farming throughout life, died in April, 1867. at the age of sixty years, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1836, at the age of thirty-five, their remains being interred in a private cemetery at Dundaff. Their children were Mary, Mrs. Eldridge, deceased: William, a resi- dent of Lackawanna county; Rachel, mother of Mrs. Johnson: Ann, deceased wife of Rensselaer Ball ; and Jane, widow of a Mr. Dunham. Mrs. Fancher's paternal grandparents, James and Mary (Buck) Coyle, werc natives of Ireland and early settlers of Dundaff. The children born to Nehe- miah and Rachel (Coyle) Fancher were Ida, who died young ; William, a stone mason of Binghamton, N. Y .; Carrie, wife of our subject; Benjamin, a farmer of Dundaff : George, who lives with our sub- ject : and Mamie, wife of Nelson Bissell, a merchant of Montrose, Penn. The father died at Montrose, August 31, 1892, and was buried there ; the mother is still living, and has made her home in Dundaff since the fall of 1894.

VICTOR LOUIS PETERSEN, assistant sil- perintendent of the Hillside Coal & Iron Co., at Forest City, Susquehanna county. was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, February 18, 1862. a son of Ernest and Nellie Peterscn. The father was born in 1832, in Copenhagen, and died in 1874; he was a cigar manufacturer. The mother has visited

our subject in this country twice, and is still living in the old home in her native land, at the age of seventy years. Both were members of the Lutheran Church. They had nine children, four of whom are living: Lydia, now the widow of Axel Lindskov, who lives in Copenhagen ; Victor Louis, our subject ; Ernest, a tanner, living in Portland, Ore .; and Anna, wife of Jacob Larsen, of Copenhagen. The father was a soldier in the war between Germany and Denmark, in 1864-66. Our subject's paternal grandfather, Peter Petersen, was a shoemaker of Denmark.

In his native land Victor Louis Petersen at- tended the public schools, and when fourteen years of age commenced to learn the tanner's trade, which he continued to follow there until his emigration to the New World in 1882. He spent one year vari- ously engaged working for a time in the clay mines at Perth Amboy, N.J., and in the fall of 1883 .re- moved to Moosic, Penn., where he commenced work in the mines, loading coal. His ability was soon recognized, and he was promoted, being made weigh master and coal inspector, and he remained at Moosic some six years. During that time he was married, at Moosic, in December, 1883, to Miss Caroline Hansen, and they have become the par- ents of four children, all born at Moosic, namely : Ernest L., born August 10, 1885, a graduate of Forest City high school; Meta, born September 19, 1887; Nellie, born January 20, 1889; and Victor O., born January 26, 1891. Mrs. Petersen is also a native of Denmark, born in Kolding, September 9. 1861, and in that country her parents, Hans and Meta Mortensen, who were farming people, spent their entire lives, both being now deceased.

On leaving Moosic Mr. Petersen removed to Green Ridge, where he was similarly engaged for one and one-half years. and he then entered the general office of the Hillside Coal & Iron Co., at Scranton, where he remained some four years, as clerk and bookkeeper. In December, 1894, he came to Frest City, where he has since been gen- eral forenian and assistant superintendent for the company, having some 1,200 to 1,400 men under his supervision. The flourishing borough of Forest City owes its existence to the discovery of coal in this vicinity. It was discovered in 1871, in a cut during the construction of the Jefferson branch of the Erie railroad, and a test revealed to sanguine operators that coal existed in paying quantities, which led to the purchase of large tracts of land here by the Hillside Coal & Iron Co. In 1874 Z. Kreger & Bros. opened a mine for the company, striking a paying vein of coal within seventy feet ; a breaker was put up the sanie year. formed of liewed timbers and operated by mule power. The first shipment of coal took place in 1875. The mine was operated until it was burned in 1885. The following year the foundation for a new breaker was laid thirty rods north of the old one. In 1884 a new shaft was put in operation lower down the valley, which was operated by stcam. The coal

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found there was a very fine anthracite, which con- firmed the hopes of those interested that mining here would become a permanent business. In the fall of 1884 mining was commenced at a depth of nearly 100 feet. The breaker was enlarged and doubled its former capacity, the vein being nearly seven feet. In March, 1887, over 11,000 tons were mined. At the present time there are three great mines at work in Forest City, viz .: Shaft No. 2, the Clif- ford shaft, and the Slope. The magnitude of these three mines is not easily comprehended even by a trip through them. One should pass into the hoist- ing engine house of Shaft No. 2, with its immense steam plant and complete outfit; thence to the car shop; the machine shop, the electric power house with its 550 horse-power-two 200 H. P. Ball & Wood engines direct connected to 150 K. W. Gen- eral Electric Co. generators and one 1.50 H. P. Armington & Sims engines belt connected to 62 K. WV. General Electric Co. generators, which will this summer be increased by an additional 400 H. P. engine and generator: the boilers of 1,800 horse- power, and the huge fan, that ventilates the mines; then pass down the shaft 160 feet ; behold the per- fect electric railway system and its twenty miles of track running through all the various openings of the mines to carry out the coal; see the electric pumps for carrying out the water ; even a stable and blacksmith shop have not been omitted. The thing is so complete, the sanitary condition is so fine, the vast amount of capital invested so enormous, one wonders at it. Certainly the modern improvements have benefited the miner, making sanitary condi- tions in most cases perfect, and mining an easy and desirable occupation. If modern facilities have les- sened the necessity for the number of miners to be cmployed, it has done for miners what modern machinery and invention has done for all classes of labor. The sensational press that makes political stock out of the miner, acts upon a presumption not founded in fact. The question of distress in min- ing districts, comes not from reduced rates in min- ing coal, but from the simple fact that there are more people seeking employment in the mines than are required to mine the coal.

The magnitude of the mining business can hardly be conceived. At Forest City, Shaft No. 2 has twenty miles of electric railroad track in the mines, the Slope has about fifteen miles of steam and electric railroad track; and the Clifford shaft has fifteen miles of cable and other track at about 300 feet below the surface of the ground. These three mines are connected with each other, and two large coal breakers by steam railroad on the surface of the ground. The whole thing with its great capacity of three-quarters of a million tons per year, and technical detail is stupendous, and is run with military precision. It is one of the best equipped and best conducted mines in the country. This whole system is under the local superintend- ency of V. L. Petersen, who became local superin- tendent in December, 1894. He has spent years in

the coal fields, and his ability and genius are uni- versally recognized. He is small in stature and unassuming in manner, but for generalship in han- dling men, and gift of genius for mastering the technical detail of things, and at the same time large powers of organization and control, he has but few equals. He is known for his integrity and worth by most of the large operators in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Petersen is a Republican in politics but no office-seeker. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Taylor, Penn., and he and his family are active members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is at present serving as elder. He is in every way a self-made man, coming to America a poor boy and rising to his present cir- cunistances through his own efforts.

REV. JAMES POPE. Only the history of the great and good comes down to us through the ages. True religion has been the strongest influence known to man through all time, while the many false doc- trines that have sprung up have flourished only for a day and then vanished. More potent at the pres- ent time than at any period in the world's history are the work and influence of Christianity, and among those who are devoting their lives to its in- culcation among men is Mr. Pope, the honored pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant, Wayne county. He is one of the leading ministers of that denomination in northcastern Pennsylvania, and his life is a source of inspiration and encour- agement to all who know him.

Mr. Pope was born in Cornwall, England, in November, 1844, a son of William and Catherine (Trythall) Pope. The father was a machinist by trade, and was engaged in putting up engines in different parts of England. He spent the greater part of his life in Cornwall, and died in 1890, in Leicester, at the age of seventy-five years, leaving a wife and two sons, one of whom still resides in England. There were six children in the family, the younger being Charles, who is engaged in the boot and shoe trade in his native land ; he married a lady from Leicester, England, but has no children. With him resides his mother.

The public schools of his native place afforded our subject his early educational advantages. At the age of fourteen he commenced learning the ma- chinist's trade under his father, who was a skilled workman. He entered the theological department of college studies, and during the three years he attended to his theology and learning preached on the Sabbath in different Churches. For ten years he was pastor in charge of Churches at Leek, Staf- fordshire, Coventry (two years), Derby (two years). and Leicester. On leaving the last named place he cante to the United States. in May. 1878, and his first charge in this country was in Passaic county. N. J., where he remained four years. Com- ing to Wayne county, Penn .; he preached the gos- pel at Sherman for six years, and then accepted a call from the Church at Hawley, where he remained

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two years, being subsequently located at Preston until coming to Pleasant Mount, in 1893. He is a zealous, active and efficient worker for the Church, and is held in high esteem, not only by the people of his own congregation, but by all who know him.

Before leaving England, Mr. Pope was married, in 1863, to Miss Mary J. Bawden, a daughter of Capt. and Mary Bawden, representatives of old and prominent families of the western part of England. Her father was a wealthy manufacturer of arsenic, and had several vessels plying between Liverpool and Hayle, Cornwall. Mrs. Pope was the eldest in his family of sixteen children, and with one ex- ception was the only one to come to America. Her brother John came to this country, and was killed in the copper mines on Lake Superior, leaving a wife and two children, who still live in England. While living in Sherman, Penn .. Mr. and Mrs. Pope adopted Helen Adams, a daughter of Duane Adams, one of the pioneer lumbermen .on the Del- aware river. She now bears the name of Ella Pope, and is a very bright young lady, now being edu- cated at the Pleasant Mount Academy. She is a fine musician, and possesses exceptional ability as a painter. In politics Mr. Pope is a stanch Repub- lican, and in his social relations he is an Odd Fellow.

JOHN H. HORTMAN, a prominent farmer of Lenox township, Susquehanna county, was less than a year old when his father. John Hortman, died in the service of the army. Early in life he was thrown upon his own resources, and though vet a comparatively young man, he has become one of the substantial and progressive men of -Lenox town- ship.

His grandfather, Enoch Hortman, was born in Abington, Penn., and there followed farming. liv- ing to the age of seventy-five years. He had a fam- ily of eight children, and of these, Jolin, the father of our subject, was born in Lackawanna county, and there married Jane Armstrong, a native of Wyoming county, Penn. Some years later he bought a farm of one hundred acres, nearly all improved, where he farmed until he entered the United States army. He died of disease while yet in service in July, 1865, leaving a wife and four children: Christopher, a farmer and real estate dealer of De Smet, S. Dak .; Herman, who died at the age of thirty years ; Enoch, who died aged twenty years ; and John H., our sub- ject. The mother afterward married George Palmer, and died at the age of forty years.

John H. Hortman was born in Springville township. August 27, 1864, and he was but six years of age when his mother died. From that time until he was nine years old he lived with his brother, Christopher, and then made his home with his guardian, M. K. Williams, until he reached his six- teenth year. He received a fair education, and for two years drove stage between Hopbottom and South Gibson. After he quit this business he spent thirteen months in northwestern Iowa, where he engaged in farming, and then returned to Susque-

hanna county. He first purchased a farm in La- throp township which he sold and then bought his present well improved farm of sixty-five acres in Lenox township, where he engaged in general and dairy farming, and also does a prosperous huckster- ing business in Scranton.

On December 24. 1888, Mr. Hortman was mar- ried in Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, to Miss Myrtie A. Taylor, who was born April 13, 1870, daughter of James Taylor, of that township. They have become the parents of three children, namely : Vernie M., born February 10, 1890; Bertha E., born March 23, 1892; and Lucy A., born March 6, 1894. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hortman are members of the Grange. In politics our subject is a stanch Repub- lican. and he lias served as school director. He is an industrious and intelligent farmer and one of the township's most valued citizens.

GEORGE V. LARRABEE is a representative of a family which have been closely identified with the annals of Susquehanna county for the past sev- enty years, and the various members have aided well in the establishment and progress of what is now one of the most prosperous communities of Pennsyl- vania. The record of their deeds, as chronicled in the following brief history, will be read with in- terest.

Mr. Larrabee's great-grandparents were Ste- phen and Polly ( Nims) Larrabee, the former a na- tive of Montague, Franklin Co., Mass., and a farm- er by occupation. Subsequent to his marriage he moved to Dummerston, \t., where he died at the age of seventy-seven. His son, Varanous Larra- bee (the grandfather of the subject of this sketch), was also born in Massachusetts, in 1788. He was known as "Colonel" Larrabee. He also moved to Vermont, where in 1808 he married Lucy Bennett, and they had eight children, all born in Vermont. In 1831 Varanous Larrabee and his family removed to Jackson. Susquehanna Co., Penn., in which town- ship he died, in 1864, aged seventy-six years. His wife died in the township in 1874, aged eighty-three years. Their children were: ( 1) Varanus Larrabee (1809-63) went to the State of Texas when a young man, married and resided there until his death. in 1863. He never came to Pennsylvania. He had a large family, and three of his sons served in the Confederate army during the Rebellion. one being killed at Port Hudson, and another dying in the hospital in New Orleans, while a prisoner of war. (2) Lorenzo D. Larrabee (1810-93), the second child, married Nancy P. Tenney, a native of Ver- mont, who died in Jackson. in 1864. In 1835 he removed from Vermont to North Jackson, first liv- ing in a log house upon the farm now owned by Edward Stack. Afterward he engaged in the tan- ning business near Jackson, and resided for a time in Harford township. He died in North Jackson, in 1893, aged eighty-three years .. His children were Willard, a farmer of Jackson, who died in 1864, agedl thirty-two years; Melvin, a farmer now living in

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Jackson, born in 1834 (he is a veteran of the Civil war, and has never recovered from a severe wound received in Virginia in 1865) ; Marshall P., born in 1837, who became a well known engineer in Ohio, and died in Dayton, that State, in 1886 ( he also was a soldier, serving in the Western army) ; Monroe J. (of whom a more extended sketch is appended), born in 1838; Lieut. Truman G., born in 1841, who was a well known educator of Lancaster county, Penn., became a member of Company D, 50th P. V. I., was discharged, re-enlisted, was captured at the battle of the Wilderness, and was confined in Andersonville, Ga., and afterward in Florence, S. C., where he died in 1864 (he was commissioned a lieutenant, but had not received his papers when captured ) ; Lucy L., born in Jackson, in 1843. who now resides in South Weymouth, Mass., and Maria L., who died in Jackson, in 1865, aged eighteen years. Four members of this family distinguished themselves as soldiers in the Rebellion, and three died in one year-1864. (3) Emery B. Larrabee, born in 1811, came to Jackson with his father in the spring of 1831. He married Laura Wheaton, and settled upon the farm now owned by E. R. Barrett. They had a family of seven children. six of whom grew to manhood, and five of them and the father served in the Union army, and all came home alive, a remarkable fact of local history. The eldest son, Alfred, is a finely educated man, living in Union- dale, Penn .; he was superintendent of schools in Susquehanna county in 1868 .. William H. is a prominent business man in Susquehanna, having begun as a dealer in meats in 1863, and still continu- ing that business with his son, Legrand (upon his North Jackson farm he erected, at a cost of nearly $12,000, one of the finest residences to be found in northeastern Pennsylvania, which, in July, 1894, was destroyed by fire). Oscar G., Windsor W. and John W., the other living members of Emery Lar- rabee's family, now reside in Susquehanna. Oscar was a member of the famous Rickets Battery of Pennsylvania, during the Civil war, and was twice a prisoner, captured at Bull Run and Gettysburg. The younger son, Winfield S., died in 1888. The father died in Susquehanna in 1899, aged eighty- seven. His five sons and nephew. Melvin, all sol- (liers with the aged veteran, bore his remains to their final resting place in North Jackson cemetery. (4) Charlotte Larrabec ( 1813-89) married for her first husband Calvin Dix, and afterward married Major Asa Hammond, of New Milford. She had four children, but one of whom is now living. Bur- ton W. Dix, of Carbondale, Penn. Mrs. Hammond died in North Jackson in January. 1889, aged sev- enty-six years. (5) Roxanna Larrabee ( 1819 -- ) married Sabin Barrett, of Jackson, and had four daughters, who grew to womanhood. Every mem- ber of the family is now deceased but the husband and father. (8) Permelia Larrabee ( 1825-49), the youngest child, married Jasper Savory, of Lake View, and died in 1849, aged twenty-four years.

(7) Benjamin H. Larrabee, the youngest son

of Veranous and Lucy Larrabee, was born in 1823. He settled in West Jackson, and married Maranda Hall, who was born in 1819, second daughter of Deacon Martin Hall. In 1870 the family removed to Lester, N. Y., where they now reside. The chil- dren are Hadley B., Devillo E. (born in 1853) and Nettie E. (born in 1858), all of whom are living. Perhaps the most prominent living member of the Larrabee family to-day is Hadley B. Larrabee, A. M., born in North Jackson August 18, 1849. He graduated from Hillsdale ( Mich.) College, class of '75 ; served as principal of Pleasant Mount Acad- emy, 1875-78; superintendent of public schools of Wayne county, Penn., 1878-84; was candidate of the Republican party of Wayne county for State Senator, 1882; alternate delegate to the national Republican convention at Chicago, 1884; city su- perintendent of public schools, Creston, Iowa, 1884- 93; city superintendent of public schools Rapid City, S. Dak., from 1895, which position he now retains. In 1875 Prof. Larrabee married Ella Rood, of Lenoxville, Penn., who died in Creston, Iowa, in 1893, of pneumonia. In 1895 he married Myrtle Bostetter, of Lincoln, Neb. His children are Wayne B., born in 1877: Ben R., born in 1883; Willie M., born in 1887; and Nettie M., who died in infancy.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4, Part 6

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1058

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1058