Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4, Part 82

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 82
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 82
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 82
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4 > Part 82

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JOHN RUPPERT. It is said that biogra- phy yields to no other subject in point of interest and profit, and it is especially interesting to note- the progress that has been made along various lines of business by those of foreign birth who have sought homes in America-the readiness with which they adapt themselves to the different methods and customs of this land, recognize the advantages of- fered, and utilize the opportunities which the New World affords. Among this class is Mr. Ruppert, an enterprising shoe merchant of Waymart, Wayne county.

Mr. Ruppert was born in Hesse, Germany, No- vember 25, 1838, a son of Werner and Katherine (Schuitz) Ruppert, who spent their entire lives in the Fatherland, where the father worked at the stone mason's trade. Both were consistent members of the Presbyterian Church. Besides our subject, there were two datigliters in the family: Martha and Katherine, both of whom remained in Germany.

John Ruppert was reared and learned the stone inason's trade in his native land. At the age of ser- enteen he determined to try his fortune on this side of the Atlantic, and after a long and tedious voyage of fifty-eight days, landed in New York, whenee, three days later, he proceeded to Allenville. N. Y. There he engaged in peeling bark during the sum- mer, in the fall worked for a glass company, during the winter worked for his board for a farmer, and the following spring was again emploved in peeling bark for three months. Subsequently he made sev- eral trips on the eanal, and spent some time in try- ing to obtain work in a tannery, or at any employ-

ment by which he could earn a livelihood. Coming to Honesdale, Wayne Co., Penn., he at length se- cured a position with Richard Henwood, with whom he worked at the butcher trade for liis board and clothes during the winter. In addition he was given $1oo the following year, and $120 the next year. The following year he was employed in the freight house at Honesdale.

During the Civil war Mr. Ruppert, on January 26, 1862, enlisted in Company C, 112th P. V. I., un- der Capt. Joseph Loben. He participated in many hotly-contested engagements including the battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and on July 4, 1864, took part in the capture of Fort Harrison, aiding in its destruction. After Lee's sur- render he served as provost marshal, or assistant superintendent of Freedmanboro, for six months. For bravery and meritorious conduct on the field of battle Mr. Ruppert was six times promoted in one year, being made corporal in January, 1864, and later orderly sergeant, second lieutenant and first lieutenant. He escaped being wounded, and on January 28, 1866, was honorably discharged, return- ing home with a war record of which he may be justly proud.

Locating at Honesdale, Mr. Ruppert purchased a boat which he ran on the canal for one season be- tween that place and New York, and then removed to Scranton, Penn., where he purchased a team and wagon and engaged in the transfer business for ten years. At the end of that period he bought a farm in South Canaan township, Wayne county, which he still owns, and which he successfully oper- ated for two years. Since then he has made his home in Waymart, and has successfully been en- gaged in the shoe business.

On April 8, 1860, at Honesdale, Mr. Ruppert was married to Miss Martha E. Kauhlos, Rev. Bower officiating, and to them were born four chil- dren: Frederick, who married Mamie Kinworthy, and has two children-Ruth and Harriet. and is now engaged in the confectionery business in Hones- dale; Charles, a resident of Arizona, served three vears in the regular army and April 29, 1898, en- listed in Company C. Ist U. S. V., known as Roose- velt's Rough Riders; Carrie E .. wife of N. E. Walker. a carpenter of Bradford, Penn .; and Mar- tha E., who is with her parents.

Mrs. Ruppert is also a native of Hesse, Ger- many, born May 22, 1842, a daughter of Christopher and Anna ( Hilderbrant ) Kauhlos, whose other chil- dren are: Caroline, wife of Daniel Peil, a retired machinist of Seranton, Penn .; Frederick, a farmer and blacksmith of Wayne county ; and John, who re- sides on the old homestead in Berlin township, Wayne county. In 1850 the father erossed the At- lantic and first took up his residence in Honesdale, where he worked at the blacksmith's trade for two years. He then removed to Berlin township, where he continued to follow that occupation in connec- tion with farming throughout the remainder of his life. Upon the old homestead his widow still re-

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sides. Both were consistent members of the Pres- byterian Church, and he was a stalwart Demoerat in polities.

Socially Mr. Ruppert was formerly a member of the I. O. O. F., of Scranton, and is now con- neeted with the G. A. R. of Waymart. The Repub- liean party always finds in him an earnest advocate of its principles, and he has most acceptably served his fellow citizens as town treasurer, tax collector and school director. In religious belief he is a Pres- byterian, takes an active part in the work of the Church, and is now filling the office of trustee. The success of his life is due to no inherited fortune, or to any happy succession of advantageous eireum- stanees, but to his own sturdy will, steady applica- tion, tireless industry, and sterling integrity.

GEORGE AMMERMAN. The deserved re- ward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement from business, in which to enjoy the fruits of for- mer toil. To-day, after a successful and beneficial career, Mr. Ammerman is quietly living at his pleas- ant home in Hawley, Wayne county. He was born in that place, September 29, 1837, a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Young) Ammerman, natives of Monroe and Wayne counties, Penn., respectively. They became acquainted and were married in the latter county, and about 1830 located in Hawley. In early life the father was employed as a sawyer and farmer, but later served as watchman for the Pennsylvania Coal Co. He was a man of promi- nence in his community, and held several local of- fices in Palmyra township, Wayne county. He died in 1879; - aged sixty-eight years, his wife in Novem- ber, 1891; aged eighty years, and although the lat- ter - passed away in Dunmore, Penn., both were buried at Hawley. They held membership in the Baptist Church, and the mother took an active part in its avork.

In the family of this worthy couple were the following children: Lura, widow of Daniel Lilly, of Wausau, Wis .; Eliza, wife of Mathias Cole, a retired farmer of Palmyra township; George, the subject of this sketch; John, a railroad engineer of Carbondale, Penn .; Catherine, deceased wife of A. S. Millham, of Hawley; Mary, deceased wife of Daniel Bingham, an insurance agent of Hawley; William and Charles (twins), the former a furni- ture dealer, the latter an insurance agent of Haw- ley ; and Helen, wite of A. R. Snyder, a conductor on the E. & W. V. railroad, and a resident of Dun- more, Pennsylvania.

In 1844 George Ammerman was taken by his parents to White Mills, Wayne county, and re- mained there until the outbreak of the Civil war, while he was employed for some time as a sawyer. In July, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company C, 6th Pennsylvania Reserves, under Capt. Jolin S. Wright, and was in many hotly-contested en- gagements, including the following: Drainsville, Fredericksburg, Bristol Station, South Mountain, Gettysburg, Antietam, the Wilderness and Mine 106

Run. During the battle of the Wilderness a minie ball struek his left knee cap, which necessitated the amputation of the limb, the operation being per- formed in the field hospital. He was later trans- ferred to an old tobacco warehouse in Fredericks- burg, from there to a private residence, subse- quently was sent to Washington, and finally reached Chester Hospital in Philadelphia, where he remained until honorably discharged from the service, July 30, 1865, with the rank of corporal. He also served some three months in Battery A, 5th U. S. Artil- lery, on detached service.

The winter after his return home Mr. Ammer- man attended the commercial college at Bingham- ton, N. Y., and after his graduation located in Haw- ley, where he studied telegraphy for three months. He then accepted a position as elerk in the post- office under M. K. Bishop, and after serving in that capacity for two years and a half he was appointed postmaster, a position he most acceptably filled until October 6, 1888. In May of the following year he was re-appointed and continued to serve as post- master until May, 1893-in all twenty-seven years. He was prompt and faithtul in the discharge of his official duties, was painstaking and obliging, and was certainly one of the most popular postmasters of Wayne county. After his retirement from office he purchased a small farm in Texas township, near Seelyville, but September 1, 1897, he returned to Hawley, where he now makes his home. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. and is identified with the Republican party, of whose prin- ciples he is an earnest advocate. His long residence in Hawley has numbered him among its valued cit- izens who have been devoted to the publie welfare. He has manifested the same loyalty in days of peace as in days of war, and all who know him have for him the highest regard.

In Hawley, December 20, 1871, Mr. Ammerman was married, by Rev. N. S. Reynolds, to Miss Jane Ann Snyder, and to them were born three chil- dren: Cora, at home; Roy, who is in Carbondale with the hardware and novelty firm of Maldfeld. Purdy & Co .; and Carl, at home. The wife and mother was born in Carbondale, Penn., August II, 1847, and died October 24, 1897, honored and re- spected by all who knew her.

Abraliam Snyder ( Mrs. Ammerman's father ) was born in Greenfield. Luzerne Co .. Penn .. De- cember 20, 1819, a son of Jacob and Rebecca ( Knei- ford) Snyder, natives of New York, who died in Luzerne ecunty, Penn., where his father engaged in farming. In 1848 Abraham Snyder removed to Hawley, where he first worked at the cabinet mak- er's trade, and later served as superintendent in the Pennsylvania ear shops. Here he died September 5, 1863, and was laid to rest in the Hawley cem- etery. He was one of the prominent men of his community, was a Republican in polities, and was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was married in Carbondale, Penn., September 14, 1842, to Miss Jane A. Womelsdorf,

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who was born in Reading. Penn., December 25, 1820, a daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Fryer) Womels- dorf. Her father, who was an iron forger. died at Nanticoke, Penn. To Abraham and Jane A. Sny- der were born the following children: Frances E., born May 22, 1843, is the wife of Dighton Daniels, a clerk for the Erie Railroad Co. in Hawley : Emma R., born May 5, 1845. is the wife of Samuel K. Dodd, a carpenter and builder ; Jane A. was the wife of our subject ; Abraham R., born February 19, 1851, is a railroad conductor living in Dunmore, Penn .; Helen, born February 4. 1853, is the wife of W. A. Gregg, a merchant of Hawley; Myron T., born August 2, 1855, is a druggist of Hawley; Samuel W., born December 25. 1857, died July 3, 1863; and Mary E., born October 18, 1861, lives with her mother in Hawley.

JOSHUA W. CORWIN. a well-known con- ductor on the Erie railroad residing at Matamoras, Pike county, is a native of New York State, born near Middletown, at Wallkill. May 6, 1849, and is a worthy representative of an old and highly-re- spected family of Orange county. The grandfa- ther, Joshua Corwin, was born at Otisville, Orange county, and for many years engaged in farming and lumbering in Pike county, Penn. He died in February, 1874, at the age of eighty-eight years. He was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Mapes, and his second a Miss Smith.

A. Corwin, the father of our subject, was born of the second union, at or near Otisville. Orange county, and there grew to manhood. He was a soldier of the Union army during the Civil war, and was shot through the body. Though he lived some ten or twelve years after his discharge, he died from the effects of his wound. After the war closed he traveled extensively through the West, and died at the age of sixty-eight years. He wedded Miss Mary Cogdale, also a native of Orange county, N. Y., and they became the parents of three sons: Sylves- ter S., who served for twenty-five years in the reg- ular army, and died in Orange county, in June, 1897; Joshua W., of this sketch ; and Theodore R., also an employe of the Erie Railroad Co., who mar- ried Clara Kerkendaugh ( now deceased), and re- sides in Port Jervis. New York.

When a mere child Joshua W. Corwin had to provide for himself. and this lie managed to do by assisting the neighboring farmers. At the age of twenty-three he learned the painter's trade, which he followed for about seven years, and in June, 1874. secured employment with the Eric Railroad Co .. with which he has since been connected, his serv- ices having proved eminently satisfactory in every respect. In due time he was promoted to the posi- tion of conductor, which he has now filled for eighteen years. He is an honored member of the Order of Railway Conductors. and for twenty-one years was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while politically he is identified with the Republican party.

At Middletown, N. Y., May 7, 1873, Mr. Cor- win was united in marriage with Miss Rose A. Hill, a daughter of John W. and Mary ( Conklin) Hill, the former a native of Rockland county, N. Y. Mrs. Corwin was born in that county, in February, 1856, and died at Matamoras, Penn., October 24, 1889. Five children blessed this union: William J., born in Port Jervis, N. Y., February 13, 1874. died at the age of four years; Ida May, born in Port Jervis. February 17, 1878, is living in Westfall township. Pike Co., Penn. ; and Roy C., born May 7, 1880. Floyd A., born January 21, 1886, and Frank Leon. born March 14, 1888, are all at hiome.

HORATIO FRANKLIN NICHOLSON, the genial and popular landlord of the hotel at Hamlin- ton, Salem township, Wayne county, where he has dispensed a generous hospitality for years, is the representative in both paternal and maternal lines of an ancestry for a hundred years identified with the growth and development of Wayne county.

Francis Nicholson, his great-grandfather. of Glastonbury, Coun., a patriot of the Revolution. in February. 1800, moved to Salem township, Wayne county, settling one mile west of Salem, Conn., on the east and west road. He had married Rachel Loveland, and to them came the following chil- dren: Edmund married a daughter of Josiah Cur- tis. and lived near Hamilton ; Jonathan L. ; Mynis : Polly ; Cleora : Zenas is referred to farther on : and Ambrose married Minerva Fish, and for many rears resided on the homestead.

Zenas Nicholson, grandfather of Horatio F .. was born on the old homestead in Salem township, and was there reared. He became by trade and occa- pation a carpenter and millwright. In 1830 he left the farm and went to Hamlinton. He was twice married, marrying two sisters; his first wife was Mary Goodrich. and their only child was Horatio W .. who became a lawyer and practiced at Wilkes Barre, Penn. By his second marriage, this time to Nancy Goodrich, his children were: Seth G. is re- ferred to farther on: G. Byron (now deceased ) was a lawyer at Wilkes Barre: Mary E. is the widow of John Leonard ; J. Milton died at Kings- ton. Penn., at the age of seventy-one years : Lyman. an officer in the Federal army during the Civil war. was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; Oscar. a lawyer at Wilkes Barre, Penn., died in 1896: Ann Amelia is the wife of a minister in Iowa; Marion died when twelve years of age : and Emeline is the wife of G. W. Simons, of Hamlinton.

Seth G. Nicholson, the father of our subject. was born October 24. 1820, in the house now ( IN) owned by Elmer Nash about one mile west of Ham- linton. In boyhood lie evinced a desire to become a merchant, in view of which he began clerking in the store of the late Judge Hamlin, at Hamlinton, re- maining with him until 1845. He then accepted the position of deputy prothonotary under the late l'. ¡ G. Goodrich, who held the office at that time. While in the office hie devoted his leisure time to reading

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Shakespeare, and at the end of three years could quote entire plays. Seth still had a desire to enter the mercantile business, and in 1848 went to Sterling and fitted up a store and commenced selling goods. He was quite successful in his new enterprise, and on March 7, 1850, he married Mary Ann Bortree. In the spring of 1852 he came to Salem Corners and for a term of years occupied the store of the late John Raymond. In 1854-55 he built a store now owned and occupied by G. W. Simons. In 1860 he was elected justice of the peace, and, possessing considerable legal ability, made an excellent officer. About the year 1870 he accepted the position of bookkeeper for Morss & Co., at Ledgedale, Penn., where he remained three years, and then accepted a. similar position at the Middle Valley Tannery, Clemo, Penn. He was an excellent business man, very precise, and whatever he did was done cor- rectly. After an absence of twenty-eight years he returned to Sterling and bought a farin of George WV. Simons, and turned his attention to farming. In 1876 he was elected justice of the peace, an of- fice he held at the time of his death. Some two years prior to his death he had a stroke of paralysis, which caused his death, September 1, 1884. He was identified with the Masonic Fraternity.

To the marriage of Seth G. Nicholson and Mary Ann Bortree were born children as follows : Marion E., born August 11, 1851, married, Sep- tember 10, 1878, Ira K. Kellam, of Ledgedale, Penn. ; Horatio F., our subject, is referred to farther on ; Rhoda Amelia, born August 28, 1855, died March 8, 1856; and Rhoda E., born December 13, 1857, married Olin H. Wolfe, of Pike county, Penn. The mother of this family was born in Philadelphia, November 1, 1821, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Starbird) Bortree, and died August 22, 1889. Robert Bortree, the father of William, came from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1801, and in about 1806 settled in what was formerly East Sterling township, Wayne county. Hc built a gristmill in 1812, on Bortree creek. His children were : William, John, Edward, Thomas, and Robert. William settled a quarter of a mile northeast of the Bortree Church ; his children were : Charles, Mary Ann, Samuel, and Daniel.

Mrs. Seth G. Nicholson on her mother's side descended from "Col. Jacob Stroud, a conspicuous figure in incidents connected with the war of the Revolution and the founding of Stroudsburg, the Colonel being her great-grandfather. Going back a little in the family history, we note that the home of many of the name was at Stroud in Gloucester- shire, England, and it was from that borough, in the beautiful at the confluence of the Frome and Slade, which unite to form the Stroudwater, that Bernard Stroud, the progenitor of the race in this country, was born. When but five years old he came across the Atlantic in the carly part of the last century. At a very tender age he lost his parents. During his youth and early manhood he resided near Amwell, Hunterdon Co., N. J. He married Keziah Harker,

and later moved to Northampton county, Penn .. where they purchased a farm and passed their re- maining days. Of their children Jacob was born January 15, 1735, at Amwell, N. J. Soon after be- coming of age, the French and Indian war having begun, he enlisted for five years in the English serv- ice. Three of his brothers also entered the pro- visional army for a like period. The Strouds were accustomed to arrange a place of meeting after each battle. Jacob used to relate that after a severe engagement, he went as usual, to the rendezvous, when but two of his brothers met him, and how in the clear moonlight they sadly sought and found the missing one among the slain. In August, 1757. Jacob Stroud formed one of the garrison at Fort William Henry on Lake George, In the taking of Quebec, September 13, 1759, Jacob Stroud was found at his post when they scaled the Heights of Abraham and landed on the plains above. Col. Stroud was near Gen. Wolfe when he fell, and assist- ed in carrying him behind the rocks. After the war Jacob Stroud returned to the home of his boyhood, and in less than three months, April 16. 1761, he married Elizabeth Macdowel, then not quite eighteen, who was a daughter of John and Hannah ( Depui) Macdowel. On July 8. 1776, Jacob Stroud was elected a member of the Convention to form the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, which indicated that he was a decided Whig from the be- ginning, as this was only four days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He attended the first meeting, July 15, 1776, held at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. During the Revolution he was stationed as commanding officer at Fort Penn, the remnants of which stood on the hill at the lower end of the town of Stroudsburg, until the great freshet of 1862 carried it away. After the close of the war he served several years from the county as representative in the House. In his legislative career. as in everything which he undertook. he showed much exemplary punctuality and diligence.

As a middle-aged man Jacob Stroud occupied as a residence, old Fort Penn. A half-mile distant, and some twenty years older, was Fort Hamilton. near which was erected, in 1795. a large roomy stone mansion for John Stroud, eldest son of Col. Jacob Stroud, and between the two was placed a frame dwelling, which stood in what is now the center of the town, nearly opposite the present "Burnett House." These formed a nucleus for building, and gradually a flourishing settlement ap- pearcd, and the town of Stroudsburg was founded. Jacob Stroud's death occurred July 14. 1806, and his wife passed away May 5, 1811. Of their eleven chil- dren. Hannah married John Starbird, and their daughter Elizabeth married William Bortrce. The latter couple were the parents of Mrs. Seth G. Nicholson.

John Starbird. just mentioned, was born Marchi 25. 1754, at Brunswick, Maine. He left home when the call "To Arms" was uttered on behalf of the Continental troops, and, having enlisted, served

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throughout the war of the Revolution, was wounded and afterward mustered out when the necessity of patriotic services in the field had ended. He went to Trenton, N. J., and taught school for a time; from there he went to Easton, Penn., and there taught school, then located at Stroudsburg, where he mar- ried Hannah Stroud, who was born October 10, 1763, and who bore hin the following children : Jacob, John, Elizabeth, William, Daniel Peter, and Franklin. He was a man of considerable education ; was engaged in farming. His death occurred De- cember 14, 1839, his wife surviving him until May 4, 1845.

Horatio Franklin Nicholson, the subject proper of this sketch, was born May 11, 1854, at Hamlin- ton, Wayne county; until eighteen years of age he remained at home, three years of which time he was employed in teaming for the Middle Valley Tannery. He saved his money and used it in attending Wyom- ing Seminary. He was graduated from College June 8, 1876. After this he clerked one year in a store at Gouldsboro, Penn., for S. H. Rhodes. He then purchased a farm in Sterling township, Wayne county, and for five years led an agricultural life. After that experience he moved to Laanna, Penn., where he engaged in lumbering and keeping board- ers. He purchased land at that point and resided there some twelve years, and in May, 1884, came to Hamlinton and became engaged in the hotel busi- ness, purchasing his present stand from George Hamlin. He also conducts a livery stable in con- nection with the hotel. Mr. Nicholson is a man of intelligence, received a liberal education and is a well-informed man, keeping up with the current issues of the day. He is enterprising and public spirited and is one of the respected citizens of Ham- linton. For three years past he has been auditor of the town ; had served one year as clerk of Sterl- ing township, and three years as school director. While in Pike county he served seven years as a justice of the peace. He is a good business man and has conducted the hotel in a successful and com- mendable manner. He is a "hail fellow well met" and an entertaining landlord as well as a first-class one in the direction of the more "substantial" side of the business. He is a good conversationalist, enjoys hunting and fishing, and therefore good company, and a royal entertainer to those of his visitors who enjoy these sports.

On May 24, 1882, our subject was married to Miss Emma J. Houck and their marriage lias been blessed by the birth of one child, Laanna, May 9, 1884. The mother was born February 10, 1854, a daughter of Nathan Houck, who for many years has been largely identified with the lumber interests of this section of the county, with residence in Pike county.

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 4, Part 82

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