USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 18
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David Reynolds, third child of William and Deborah (Greene) Reynolds, was born in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, June 17, 1734, died at Plymouth, Penn- sylvania, July 8, 1816. He came to the Wyoming Valley in 1769, endured all the hardships of the Revolutionary and Pennamite Wars. He took part in de- fending the Valley against the British and Indians, and was one of the Connec- ticut settlers expelled from the Valley during the Pennamite War. His flight from Wyoming in the winter of 1780 was during a severe snow storm, and on the journey to safety his son Benjamin was born. He returned to Plymouth in 1785, and there resided until his death.
He married (second) in 1779, Mrs. Hannah (Andrus) Gaylord, born in Con- necticut, widow of Charles Gaylord, of Plymouth, who died in 1777, while serv- ing in the Continental army.
Benjamin Reynolds, only child of David and Hannah (Andrus) Reynolds, was born during the flight of his parents from the Wyoming Valley, February 4, 1780, died at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1854. He was a leading general merchant of Plymouth for many years; sheriff of Luzerne county, by ap- pointment of the Governor, 1832-1833;
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justice of the peace for many years; and for half a century one of the substantial, representative men of Plymouth. He was an earnest promoter of those twin agencies of civilization, religion and edu- cation, doing much for both causes. He married (first) March 22, 1801, Lydia Fuller, born November 5, 1779, in Kent, Litchfield county, Connecticut, died in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, August 29, > 1828, daughter of Joshua and Sybil (Champion) Fuller, a descendant of the "Mayflower" Fullers. Her mother, Sybil Champion, was a descendant of Lieuten- ant Henry Champion, of England, who settled at Saybrook, Connecticut, as early as 1647, was one of the early settlers of Lyme, Connecticut, and a soldier of the French and Indian War. Benjamin and Lydia (Fuller) Reynolds had nine chil- dren: William Champion, Chauncey An- drus, Hannah, Clara, Elijah Wadhams, Joshua Fuller, George, Abram H. (whose career follows), and Emily Elizabeth.
From this New England ancestry sprang Abram H. Reynolds, in whose veins coursed the blood of Puritan, pio- neer and patriot. He inherited the sturdy spirit of his sires, their inflexible will power, their courage and patriotism, their virtues of honesty, energy and up- rightness and their ability.
Abram H. Reynolds, eighth child and sixth son of Benjamin and Lydia (Fuller) Reynolds, was born at Plymouth, Penn- sylvania, July 14, 1819, died at Kingston, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1890. He was prepared at Plymouth Academy for Dickinson College, where he was gradu- ated. He early became associated with his brothers in their business. He was a business man of the highest type, and was highly regarded by his associates, who trusted implicitly his judgment and confided safely in his honor.
During President Buchanan's admin-
istration, he was postmaster of Kings- ton, and for several years was secretary- treasurer of the old Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad Company prior to its absorption into the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western system. He was con- nected with many of the enterprises of his day, and bore his full share in the upbuilding of a prosperous community. After his retirement from mercantile life he was for many years engaged in the coal business. He retained elasticity of step, his vision and hearing, erect bear- ing and unimpaired mental faculties until his last illness, giving little evidence of his seventy-one years. His moral char- acter was above reproach and his word was as his bond. He was for many years a true exponent of the Christian life, be- longing to the Presbyterian church of Kingston, serving a long period as trus- tee of the church and as its treasurer.
Mr. Reynolds married, in 1862, Eliza- beth Shepard Hoyt, daughter of Ziba Hoyt, sister of John Dorrance Hoyt and Henry Martyn Hoyt, Governor of Penn- sylvania, 1879-1883, and a descendant of Simon Hoyt, who came from England to Salem, Massachusetts, in September, 1628, and was one of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, in 1636, and a dea- con of Rev. Thomas Hooker's church, and also a descendant of Rev. Ard Hoyt, the missionary, who was ordained pastor of the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston church in 1806.
Children of Abram H. and Elizabeth (Hoyt) Reynolds: Charles Hamilton, died August 22, 1901 ; Emily Fuller, died February 6, 1900, and John Herbert.
HOYT, John Dorrance, Useful Citizen,
Of the eighth American generation of this family founded in Massachusetts by Simon Hoyt in 1628; grandson of "Dea-
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John D. Hoyto
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repofing fpecial Tr duct, I DO by Vi >point and impowe Charge, as their .. fice and Truft, ex Arms, according .t by the Laws of th commanding then ferve all fuch .Ord "either from me, hereby repofed in GIVEN under the 3º Day
By his Excellency's Com:
GRISWOLD, ESQUIRE. nander in Chief in and over the STATE of 1.
ECTICUT in AMERICA.
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eral Affembly of this State accepted to be Juhnund t hand in the 16 Regiment of Mehla mi this State)
Confidence in your Fidelity, Courage and good Con- the Laws of this State, me thereunto enabling, ap- take the faid Chamband?" into your Care and carefully and diligently to difcharge that Of- your inferior Officers and Soldiers in the Ufe of their ules and Difcipline of War, ordained and eftablifhed keeping them in good Order and Government, and you as their Breukenal - and you are to ob- Directions as from Time to Time you fhall receive, other your fuperior Officer, purfuant to the Truft
Ind, and the Public Seal of this State, at a New Here kremter A. D. 1784 Matthew Griswold
Secretary.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
con" Daniel Hoyt, the founder of the family in the Wyoming Valley of Penn- sylvania; son of Lieutenant Ziba Hoyt, an officer of the war of 1812, and brother of Henry Martyn Hoyt, Governor of Pennsylvania, John Dorrance Hoyt could claim all the prestige accruing from illus- trious family connection. To his paternal ancient and honorable ancestry he added a maternal line of equal strength, his mother, Nancy Hurlbut Hoyt, being a granddaughter of Christopher Hurlbut, a soldier of the Revolution, and of distin- guished family.
But these were but the advantages of birth, John D. Hoyt possessing in himself the qualities of mind, body and soul that carried him true and brought him the high esteem of his fellow men, among whom his years, seventy-seven, were passed, and the approval of his own con- science.
The American founder of the family, Simon Hoyt, came from England to Salem, Massachusetts, in September, 1628, with Governor Endicott, and dur- ing his subsequent life was concerned in the founding and settlement of seven dif- ferent towns, including Charlestown, Massachusetts, and Windsor, Connecti- cut. There has been a strong religious strain in his descendants, and, if heredity can be trusted, its origin was in this sturdy pioneer ancestor who in 1636 is recorded as a deacon in Thomas Hook- er's church at Windsor.
Five generations after Simon Hoyt, a direct descendant, Daniel Hoyt, was born in Danbury, Connecticut, on May 2, 1756. There he lived, and married Anne Gunn. In 1794 he came to the Wyoming Valley, settling ať Kingston, Luzerne county, where he died in 1824. The religious zeal of Simon Hoyt, the founder, shone forth in this pioneer of the sixth American generation, who served the first Presby-
terian church organized in Kingston in 1819, as deacon, and was known through- out the length and breadth of the Val- ley as "Deacon Hoyt."
Ziba Hoyt, sixth child of Daniel Hoyt, the Pennsylvania founder of the family, was born at Danbury, Connecticut, Sep- tember 8, 1788, died at Kingston, Penn- sylvania, December 23, 1853. He was brought by his parents to Kingston in 1794, and there spent his after life. He was a man of unusual abilities, a pros- perous farmer, well known throughout the Valley for his pure life and upright character. Like his father, he was a lead- ing member of the Kingston Presby- terian church, and for many years was a ruling elder. When the second war with Great Britain broke out, he was second lieutenant of the Wyoming Volunteers Matross Artillery Company, organized in Kingston township in April, 1810. With his company, numbering thirty-one men, he embarked on a raft, April 13, 1813, and by way of river and land arrived at Erie, Pennsylvania, May 5, following, the company then numbering ninety-five men. He saw active service, and in the battle of the Thames he commanded the Matross Artillery. After fifteen months' service the company was mustered out and sent home. Lieutenant Ziba Hoyt married, at Kingston, January 23, 1815, Nancy Hurlbut, whose father, Christo- pher, was a soldier of the Revolution, and of an early Wyoming Valley family.
John Dorrance Hoyt, son of Lieutenant Ziba and Nancy (Hurlbut) Hoyt, was born at Kingston, Pennsylvania, August 13, 1819, died there June 16, 1896. His early life was spent on the home farm, his preparatory education obtained in the Kingston schools. Later he took a class- ical course at Lafayette College, then re- turned to Kingston, where his after life was spent in usefulness as a business
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man and citizen. The quality of his man- hood and his citizenship cannot be more clearly nor deservedly described than the following tribute from the Rev. Ferdi- nand Von Frug, pastor of the Kingston Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Hoyt was a member and a ruling elder:
He was a man of remarkable soundness, and perfection of character. He was modest and retiring in his disposition-not in any sense ostentatious or self-asserting and yet no man in the entire community exerted an influence more deciding or more healthful. It was sim- ply the result of his great and good character, which everybody knew to be genuine and true and which was ielt in every circle in which he moved. Coupled with this, was a clear mind, sound judgment and an honest purpose to do right. He was with all and above all a Chris- tian, a firm believer in God and his word. No man was freer from human frailties than John D. Hoyt, no one in whose everyday life there was exhibited more of the nobleness of genuine manhood, plain, straightforward, honest and true. He was a model man and his life a bene- diction to those who knew him best.
Although keenly alive to his responsi- bilities as a citizen and deeply interested in public affairs, Mr. Hoyt never sought political honors, and beyond exercising the franchise took little part in public affairs. His greater pleasure was to sym- pathize with and succor the unfortunate and the needy; and to advance the cause of the church of which he was a promi- nent member and liberal supporter nearly his entire life, the godly spirit of his an- cestors descending to him in a marked degree.
Mr. Hoyt married (first) Martha A., daughter of Abram and Sarah (Myers) Goodwin. He married (second) Eliza- beth, a sister of his first wife. The first wife, Martha, bore him three children: Anne Elizabeth, married George Shoe- maker, of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania ; Abraham G .; Martha, married Dr. Fred- eric Corss. Mr. Hoyt's second wife, Eliz-
abeth, bore him six children: Augusta, Edward E., Henry M. (2nd), of Reno, Nevada, and three who died in infancy- John Dorrance, Jr., Mary C., and Frank.
NESBITT, Abram,
Man of Large Affairs, Philanthropist.
On December 26, 1914, Abram Nesbitt, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, celebrated his eighty-third birthday. Length of years is honorable, but when a career of useful- ness and blessing to one's fellows attends the years, they become a veritable crown, and he who wears it is singled out as one upon whom honor is most worthily be- stowed. When one year old, Abram Nes- bitt was brought by his parents to Wilkes-Barre, where he was educated, perfected himself in a profession, engaged in many and varied business enterprises, aided in the organization of the Second National Bank, was its vice-president, F871-1877, and since the latter date has been its honored and capable president. Kingston has been his residence for sixty- six years, and since its incorporation as a borough in 1857 its schools, churches, municipal affairs, and business interests have been closely connected with the life of Abram Nesbitt. It would be hard to find an enterprise in Wilkes-Barre or Kingston, public or private, that has not benefited by his interest, while Nesbitt Hall, at Wyoming Seminary, and Nesbitt Hospital, at Kingston, are splendid evi- dences of his generous interest in his fel- low man. He is one of the progressive, energetic men of to-day, although the past history he has helped to create would re- quire a volume to chronicle. He is as closely in touch with things of to-day as the youngest business man of his city, and with this interest carries the wisdom and experienced judgment that the years alone can give.
The Scotch name of the family was
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Nisbet, and was borne by five of the name who died a martyr's death on the scaffold for conscience's sake. The American founder was James Nisbet, who sailed from Leith, September 5, 1685, in the ship "Henry and Francis," landing at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, December 20, 1685. Later he moved to Woodbridge, and in 1690 to Newark, where he married, and about 1720 died, leaving a son, Samuel. This Samuel wrote his name Nesbitt, and was a weaver by trade. He was born in Newark in 1697, married, in 1717, Abi- gail, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Ward) Harrison, and died in Newark, March 12, 1733.
With James Nisbitt, born June 15, 1718, died July 12, 1792, eldest son of Samuel and Abigail (Harrison) Nesbitt, the history of the family in the Wyoming Valley begins. He was a soldier of the colonial army during the French and In- dian wars, and lived in Connecticut and Orange county, New York, coming to the Wyoming Valley in 1769, one of the one hundred and ninety-six settlers enrolled at Wyoming, June 2, 1769, "to man their rights." He was active in the Pennamite wars, took active part in the Revolution, was one of the first justices of the peace under appointment by Connecticut, and one of the first judges of the Common Pleas under Pennsylvania authority, serv- ing in both offices until his death in Ply- mouth, July 2, 1792. He married, in Newark, in 1748, Phoebe Harrison, born in 1728, died February 17, 1802, his sec- ond cousin, daughter of Stephen Harri- son. Twelve children were born to them, Abram, the eighth, born while they were yet living in Fairfield county, Connec- ticut.
Abram Nisbitt, son of James and Phoe- be (Harrison) Nisbitt, was born Septem- ber 12, 1763, and with his parents came to the Wyoming Valley in 1773. He was hardly more than fourteen years of age at
the battle of Wyoming, yet with other boys and a few old men formed the garri- son of Shawnee Fort. He fled with his mother and others on the day of the battle and did not return to Wyoming until late in the year 1779. He enlisted in March, 1780, in Captain Franklin's company, Connecticut militia, and for a year was in the Continental service. When the "Second Pennamite War" be- gan he was one of the foremost of the younger men who sustained the Connec- ticut party, and suffered greatly. He died in Plymouth, January 2, 1847, in his eighty-fourth year. He married, at Ply- mouth, May 25, 1787, Bethiah Wheeler, born January 1, 1770, died in Plymouth, January 16, 1851, just past her eighty- first birthday. She was the daughter of David and Sarah (Banks) Wheeler, a descendant of the Wheeler and Banks families of Fairfield county, Connecticut, that later settled in Newark, New Jer- sey, where the old Wheeler mansion, begun in 1769, stood for many years at the corner of Market and Mulberry streets. With the children of Abram Nis- bitt the spelling of the name again be- came Nesbitt.
James Nesbitt, son of Abram and Be- thiah (Wheeler) Nisbitt, was born in Ply- mouth, Pennsylvania, October 15, 1790, died in Wilkes-Barre, October 9, 1840. He was a man of unusual business ability and accumulated a large estate. He was a member of the first board of directors of the Wyoming Bank, of Wilkes-Barre, and from 1835 until 1840 was engaged in mercantile business in Wilkes-Barre, in partnership with Charles B. Drake, their place of business first on the east side of the square, later a frame building on West Market street. He also engaged in coal mining and farming operations. He was captain of the First Battalion, Second Regiment, Ninth Division, Pennsylvania Militia, tax collector in 1816, and assessor
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of Plymouth township in 1824, elected sheriff in 1832, on the anti-Masonic ticket, served three years, and in 1835 was elected to the State Legislature. Prior to his election as sheriff, Captain Nesbitt re- sided on his farm in Plymouth township, but after entering office he occupied a commodious home on East Market street, Wilkes-Barre, between Washington and Fell streets, and there resided until his death. He married, November 12, 1815, Mary Shupp, born June 2, 1791, died at the home of her son, Abram, in Kingston, December 3, 1864, daughter of Colonel Philip and Catherine (Everett) Shupp. Colonel Philip Shupp, of German parent- age, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and about 1806 moved to Luzerne county, where in 1808 he erected a grist mill on Shupp's creek, which for many years was the principal mill in Ply- mouth. In 1817 he made his son, Philip (2), a partner. He died in 1835. Chil- dren of Captain James Nesbitt: Mary Ann, born September 15, 1826, died May 4, 1857, married, September 9, 1845, Samuel Hoyt, a descendant of Simon Hoyt, one of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut ; Abram, of further mention.
From such sturdy, patriotic and capable ancestors sprang Abram Nesbitt, son of Captain James and Mary (Shupp) Nes- bitt. He was born at the Nesbitt home- stead in Plymouth township, Luzerne county, Thursday, December 29, 1831. When he was one year old his parents moved to Wilkes-Barre, and there at the East Market street home, erected by his father while sheriff, he spent his youth. He was educated at Deacon Dana's Academy and Wyoming Seminary, alter- nating his attendance until 1849, when he left school and began the study of survey- ing. He had moved with his mother to Kingston in 1849, and there he has since resided. Studying surveying with his brother-in-law, Samuel Hoyt, he was Mr.
Hoyt's trusted assistant before he was twenty-one years of age, and he soon be- gan professional work independently, be- ing busily engaged until 1864. Then he retired to give his entire attention to his business interests, but for several years thereafter he was called upon as an expert to advise and to testify.
In 1863 he formed the connection that has continued unbroken to the present. In that year he aided in organizing the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre, was chosen a member of the first board of directors, and from November, 1863, when the bank opened for business in the Ca- hoon building on West Market street, he has through successive reëlections been a member of the board. In January, 1871, he was elected vice-president, and in January, 1877, was elected president, thirty-eight years having now been spent as the executive head of this strong and highly rated financial institution.
In 1884 he became interested in the organization of the Wyoming Valley Coal Company, and was elected a director, and later vice-president. In 1887 he became one of the largest stockholders and organ- izers of the Spring Brook Water Com- pany, was director and treasurer of the company until 1896, when the company merged with the Wilkes-Barre Water Company and the Crystal Spring Water Company, forming a new corporation, the Spring Brook Water Supply Company, with main offices in Scranton, Pennsyl- vania. Of this company Mr. Nesbitt has been a director since November, 1897. He has been president of the Gas Company of Luzerne county, a corporation formed in 1898 by the consolidation of the Con- sumers' Gas Company and the Wilkes- Barre Gas Company, with a charter cover- ing nearly every town and city in Lu- zerne county. He is also president of the Wilkes-Barre Electric Light Company, president of the Wilkes-Barre Theatre
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Company, owning "The Nesbitt," Wilkes- Barre's leading theatre, a director of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, treas- urer of the Wyoming Valley Cutlery Works, president of the People's Tele- phone Company, and intimately con- nected with the foremost industries of the Wyoming Valley, whatsoever their nature.
All visitors to Wilkes-Barre remark upon the excellence of its system, of street railways, all arriving and departing from the "Square," serving all parts of the city and suburban territory promptly and efficiently. This system, noted as one of the best managed and operated in the United States, was inaugurated in 1909, when all the street railway lines in the city were consolidated as the Wilkes- Barre Railway Company. This consoli- dation was largely accomplished through the personal efforts of Mr. Nesbitt, who was chosen the first president of the com- pany, an office he yet holds. During the six years he had been head of the com- pany, almost the entire system has been rebuilt or extensive repairs made. The equipment has been greatly improved and vast extensions built that serve new terri- tory. In fact, he has given Wilkes-Barre an electric street car service that not only serves Wilkes-Barre residents, but con- nects the city by a quick, reliable medium with all suburban towns of note, a system unexcelled anywhere.
From 1857, the date of Kingston's in- corporation as a borough, Mr. Nesbitt has been intimately identified with its official as well as its business life. He also served Luzerne county for over a quarter of a century as member of the board of directors of the Central Poor District, as treasurer and president, his work in that field showing in the well equipped, com- fortable and humanely conducted farms, homes, and retreats for the poor and un- fortunate of the district.
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Wyoming Seminary, where part of his school years were passed, has ever had in him a devoted, generous friend. He has served as trustee since 1883, and as vice-president of the board for several years. In 1892 he met the needs of the seminary in a most characteristic manner by an announcement that he would erect an additional building for the advanced purposes of the seminary. This building was dedicated at the semi-centennial an- niversary of the founding of the seminary during commencement week in June, 1894, and the name "Nesbitt Hall" officially be- stowed. His latest public gift is Nesbitt Hospital, given to Kingston, in 1913. So a long life has been spent, filled to the brim with useful effort and worthy ac- complishment. His qualities of mind and heart have impelled him to use his wealth wisely, and while, as one of the foremost men of the valley, he has been subjected to the public gaze for many, many years there is no smirch upon his honor, his name is a synonym for integrity and enterprise, and the universal respect of the community in which he resides is his. The personal traits that distinguish him are modesty, alertness of mind and body before the years retarded his movements, plainness of living and the cleanliness of his daily life, its freedom from strong lan- guage and total abstinence from drink or tobacco. He is the generous, steadfast helpful friend, gentle and affectionate in nature. In politics he is a Republican, in religious belief a Methodist, he serves Kingston Methodist Episcopal Church as trustee, and by liberal contributions from his means and business ability advances the prosperity of the church of his choice. He is a life member of the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society.
Abram Nesbitt married, in Kingston, September 2, 1862, Reverend R. Nelson, D. D., officiating, Sara Myers Goodwin, born in Kingston, September 30, 1832,
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died February 22, 1894, third and young- est daughter of Abram and Sarah (Myers) Goodwin, a descendant of Abraham Good- win, the first of the name in the Wyo- ming Valley. Abraham Goodwin mar- ried Catharine King in 1783 and in the spring of 1784 settled in Kingston town- ship, there residing until 1794, when he purchased a farm in Exeter township, near the Kingston line. He there died July 18, 1822; his wife died October 24, 1814, and both are at rest in Forty Fort Cemetery. Their son, Abram (as he wrote his name) was a merchant and farmer of Kingston, later moving to Bradford county, where he was associate judge, 1841-44. He returned to Kings- ton and there died May 15, 1880, in his ninetieth year. He married, November 12, 1812, Sarah Myers, born September 25, 1792, died March 4, 1867, daughter of Philip and Martha (Bennet) Myers. Philip Myers, born in Germany in 1759, was brought to America in 1760 by his parents, who settled in Frederick, Mary- land. He served as a private in the Mary- land line, Continental Army, and fought at Germantown, as did his elder brother, Lawrence, an officer. Philip and Law- rence Myers settled in the Wyoming Valley, Philip in Kingston, where, July 15, 1787, he married Martha Bennet, daughter of Thomas and Martha (Jack- son) Bennet, the Bennets a family that experienced much of the woe and suffer- ing forced upon the early Wyoming Val- ley settlers.
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