USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
3. Miller Barton, born in Huntington township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1830, and died December 22, 1897. He was reared and educated in his native town, attending its common schools, and for many years followed the occupation of civil engineer with marked success. He performed special work on disputed titles and other matters of a similar nature. He served three terms as county surveyor of Luzerne county, in which capacity he rendered capable and efficient service. He was a man of honor and integrity, and was beloved and re- spected by all with whom he came in contact. He married Permelia Stevens Rhone, born at Cambra, April 22, 1836, daughter of George and Mary Bowman (Stevens) Rhone, the former named born October 18, 1804, died December 14, 1881, and the latter born October 8, 1816, died December 20, 1893. George Rhone was a farmer in Huntington, Pennsylvania, until his removal to Wilkes-Barre, in which city the remainder of his life was spent.
PA-Vol VII-14
He was a son of Matthias and Naomi (LaPorte) Rhone, the former named a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, his birth occurring near Allentown. He was a farmer by occupation, following that line of work in his native county. He died near Benton, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, 1853, aged seventy-five years, and his remains are interred in St. Gabriel's churchyard.
Naomi LaPorte was a descendant of one of the families of French refugees who fled to America during the French Revolution and settled at Asylum, Brad- ford county, Pennsylvania. They came in 1793, almost before the echoes of our own Revolution had died away. In 1796 the town consisted of forty families, among them many who had held high positions in naval, military and state circles in France. When Napoleon came into power and repealed the laws of ex- patriation which had been passed against the emigrants, with the promise of the restitution of their confiscated estates on their return, the greater part of them embraced the opportunity and went back to France. Some of them removed to Philadelphia, two or three to other parts of the country, and but three families remained in the vicinity of Asylum. Naomi LaPorte was a member of one of these families, and was born at LaPorte, in what is now Sullivan county. Her relative, Hon. John LaPorte, was speaker of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1832, the fifth term of his membership; from 1832 to 1836 he was a member of Congress, and Surveyor-General of Penn- sylvania from 1845 to 1851.
Mary Bowman (Stevens) Rhone was a daughter of Zebulon Hall Stevens. He was a descendant of Henry Stevens, who came to this country from England, April 4, 1669, with his father and two brothers, Nicholas and Thomas, and settled in Taunton, Massachusetts, Permilia (Bow-
2427
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
man) Stevens, wife of Zebulon Stevens, and mother of Mary Bowman (Stevens) Rhone, was the eldest daughter of John Bowman, who was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1772, and died at Town Hill, Huntington township, Ln- zerne county, February 8, 1848. He mar- ried Mary Britton, who died in 1852. He was a son of Christopher Bowman, who came from Germany in 1754 and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The father of Christopher Bowman lived in Germany, and was a man of considerable eminence and wealth. He had built up a village, founded a school, had many men in his employ, on occasions issned letters which served as passports from province to province, seemed to have exercised something of the rights and prerogatives which belonged to the old feudal nobility, and, in fact, the family coat-of-arms is said by heraldic authority to have been the grade of an earl. He owned a silver mine named Mehlenbach, situated in the mountain near Ems, about twenty miles to the north of Wiesbaden. The name of the family in Germany was Bauman, which was changed to Bowman by the first American ancestor. Christopher and his younger brother emigrated to Amer- ica in 1754, and within a few years he returned to the fatherland on a visit, when he sold his interest in the mine at Mehlen- bach. Christopher Bowman married Susan Banks, sister of Hon. Judge Banks, of Reading, a family of Scotch-English descent, and a family of considerable dis- tinction and prominence both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They removed to Briar Creek, Pennsylvania, where Christopher died in 1806, and his wife Susan died in 1816. Bishop Thomas Bowman, of the Methodist Episcopal church, was a grandson. Henry Stevens married Eliza or Elizabeth, a daughter of Captain John Gallup, a son of Captain
John Gallup, of Boston, Massachusetts, and both father and son were noted as Indian fighters. He came to Pequot in 1651, where he lived until 1654, when he removed to Mystic. Captain Gallup mar- ried Hannah Lake, a relative of Governor Winthrop. Henry Stevens settled in Stonington, Connecticut, and had three sons-Thomas, Richard and Henry. Thomas married Mary Hall, and settled in Plainfield, Connecticut, and had seven sons-Thomas, Phineas, Uriah, Caleb, Benjamin, Samuel and Zebulon. Zebulon was born June 14, 1717, and married Miriam Fellows, November 25, 1743. Thomas, son of Zebulon, was born May 5, 1760, at Canaan, Litchfield county, Con- necticnt, and emigrated to Wyoming be- fore the close of the last century. Thomas Stevens married Lucy Miller, December 2, 1784. Zebulon Hall Stevens, son of Thomas, was born January 12, 1791, and married Permilia Bowman, daughter of John Bowman, October 28, 1813.
The children of George and Mary Bowman (Stevens) Rhone are as follows :
I. Permelia Stevens, born April 22, 1836, aforementioned as the wife of Mil- ler Barton Trescott.
2. Daniel LaPorte Rhone, born Janu- ary 19, 1838, for many years a successful lawyer at Wilkes-Barre, and for twenty years judge of the Orphans' Court of Luzerne county ; he married (first) De- cember 6, 1861, Emma Hale Kinsey, daughter of John Kinsey, of Montgomery Station, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. She died February 18, 1878. They had one daughter, Mary Panthea, wife of Harry G. Marcy. Daniel LaPorte Rhone married (second) December 31, 1879, Rosamond L. Dodson, born in Downie- ville, Sierra county, California, daughter of Osborne and Lucy (Wadsworth ) Dod- son, of Pennsylvania. Judge and Mrs.
2428
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Rhone are the parents of two daughters : Alice Buckalew, born November 15, 1880, and Helen Wadsworth, born November 5, 1884.
3. Susan Bowman Rhone, born Janu- ary 8, 1840, became the wife of Alfred T. Creveling, born September 25, 1833, died at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1906. Mrs. Creveling is living in 1916, and is the mother of Daryl LaPorte and John Quincy Creveling, prominent attor- neys of the Luzerne county bar ; George Rhone Creveling, of Carbondale; Laura M., wife of G. A. Hinterleitner, of West Virginia, and Drusilla, first wife of Mr. Hinterleitner, who died in West Virginia.
4. John Crawford Rhone, born January 29, 1842, married Maria Baker, died in 1894.
5. Zebulon Stratton, born September 2, 1845, married Jennie Crosthwaite, of Wil- liamsport, Pennsylvania ; he died in Ne- braska, February 5, 1887; was a minis- ter in the Methodist Episcopal church.
6. Minerva, born March 23, 1847, died in 1892.
7. Aristo Caroline, born January 10, 1850, died in infancy.
8. Samuel Matthias, born September 25, 1852, married Amanda Waltman, of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, died in 1914.
9. Freas Brown, born August 19, 1860, married Lillian Grover, of Rupert, Penn- sylvania.
The children of Miller Barton Trescott and Permelia Stevens (Rhone) Trescott, are: 1. Sylvester Boyd, married to Anna Potter ; they have one child, Paul Henry. 2. Mary Luella, hereinafter mentioned. 3. George Rhone, married to Emma Har- rison ; they have two children: Leroy ; and Liva Permelia, married to Fred W. Blencoe, of England; issue: Mary Emily. 4. Minerva Patterson, wife of Charles W. Snyder, a journalist, of Wil- liamsport; they have five children:
Martha, Barton, Russell, Richard, and Harold, who died at the age of ten years. 5. Josephine, married to Harry H. Daven- port, of Dorranceton ; they have five chil- dren: Herman, Robert, Francis, Irene and Mary. 6. Rush, attorney-at-law at Wilkes-Barre, married Elizabeth May Wilbur; they have one child, Wilbur. 7. Emma, unmarried ; engaged in missionary work among the foreign speaking people, founded the Anthracite Mission at Hazle- ton, and is now field secretary of the Home Missionary Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal church. 8. Robert, married to Eliza Dreisbach, great-great-grand- daughter of Luther Trescott, and great- granddaughter of Susan Dodson, herein- before mentioned; they are now living at the old homestead at Huntington ; they have one child, Barton, born 1914. Mil- ler Barton Trescott, the father of these children, died December 22, 1897.
Mrs. Permelia S. (Rhone) Trescott, whose death occurred May 12, 1905, was educated in the public schools, at Wyom- ing Seminary, and Dickinson Seminary at Williamsport. Early in life she became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and from that day until her de- mise was eminently consistent with her profession. She was active in every phase of church and Christian life, and never outgrew her usefulness. The Methodist church which stands at Register is large- ly the result of her faith, prayers and work. Each of her pastors found her sympathetic, appreciative, helpful, and especially anxious for the strengthening as well as the extension of His Kingdom. She loved good books and poetry, which she so aptly quoted, and was a delightful and profitable conversationalist, as well as a good listener. In her home her char- acter shone resplendent, and under cir- cumstances not nearly so ideal as those of her later life, she carefully reared the
2429
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
children entrusted to her care. With fidelity seldom equalled and never sur- passed, she sought to instill into their minds and have them exemplify in their lives a love for the good, the true, the noble and the beautiful. In this she admirably succeeded, and her life shall be to all coming generations a blessing and a benediction. Her remains were taken back to her home in Huntington, from which she had been absent during the winter, and to which she had been taken a bride forty-six years before. The funeral services were conducted by her pastor, Rev. H. F. Carey, assisted by Dr. R. H. Gilbert, of Berwick, a former pastor and intimate friend of the family, who delivered a beautiful sermon upon the doctrines of the resurrection. On the green hillside at Southdale, in Hunting- ton Valley, she was laid to rest beside her husband, who preceded her seven years.
Mary L. Trescott, eldest daughter and second child of Miller Barton and Per- melia Stevens (Rhone) Trescott, was born in Huntington township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. She attended the common schools in the neighborhood of her home, and this knowledge was sup- plemented by attendance at the New Columbus Academy at New Columbus, Pennsylvania, after which she served in the capacity of a teacher for a time in the township schools in Ashley, White Haven, West Pittston and Wilkes-Barre city. She then became a student of the Eastman Business College at Pough- keepsie, New York, graduating therefrom in 1893. The following two years she read law in the office of Hon. Henry W. Palmer, ex-Attorney-General and member of Congress, also one of the leading lawyers of Wilkes-Barre, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, October 14, 1895, being the first woman upon whom that distinction was conferred. At the present
time she is engaged in an active general practice of the law in all its branches, being employed frequently in cases of unusual consequence, requiring a thor- ough knowledge of the law, and careful and ingenious application of its principles, but making, however, the Orphans' Court and corporation law a specialty, this often requiring her services in the adjoining counties to Luzerne. Upon the basis of a liberal education Miss Trescott has builded a general knowledge of people and affairs invaluable in the legal profes- sion, is a safe counselor and zealous advo- cate, and no lawyer defends the rights of his clients with more vigor and earnest- ness than she. From her ambitious nature and general capability Miss Tres- cott has attained a position in her profes- sion that few women and not a great number of men have been able to achieve, and so readily retain. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1899, and on April 16, 1906, was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, on motion of Solicitor-General Henry M. Hoyt. On the death of Hon. Henry W. Palmer, which occurred in 1913, Miss Trescott succeeded him as executor on the board of executors of the Handley Estate in Scranton. She was treasurer and secretary of the Boys' Industrial Association from its founda- tion, was president of the Florence Crit- tenton Circle of Wilkes-Barre, and was one of the founders of the Shelter and Day Nursery on Park avenue, Wilkes- Barre.
Upon her retirement as president of the Shelter and Day Nursery in 1911, the fol- lowing report was entered by the secre- tary :
But one change has been made in the board of managers. Miss Trescott feeling that more urgent duties demanded her time, tendered her resigna- tion as president and Mrs. Carleton Jones was
2430
Mary L Trescott.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
elected acting president to fill out the term. Miss Trescott is still a member of the board of direc- tions and will give special attention to all cases requiring care in the courts. To her is due in a large measure the success of the work. Accepting the presidency at the urgent request of friends against her own inclination she spared neither time, money, labor nor strength to insure its good standing. Working late into the night on Critten- ton reports while the other circle members were getting their beauty sleep, sitting up all night with sick children at the Shelter, trimming hats for the girls or visiting them in the hospital or prison. No wonder we sometimes forgot that our presi- dent was a lawyer until we needed some legal work done and then we remembered it in a hurry, but nobody ever remembered to ask her for her bill and she never remembered to send any.
In 191I Miss Trescott was elected a member of the Wilkes-Barre City School Board for four years, and reëlected in 1915 for six years, both times by the largest vote ever cast for any person in Wilkes-Barre city. An editorial in one of the papers after the first nomination says :
That a broader qualification than that of being a medical man is necessary was demonstrated by the nomination of Miss Mary L. Trescott on both tickets. She was recognized for her many-sided qualifications, among them being her past experi- ence as a teacher in our public schools, her legal training, her vast voluntary labors among philan- thropic bodies, which has added to her knowledge of the proper kind of education for a large class of the community, especially the need for voca- tional education on extended lines for girls.
Since her election to the office of school director, she has taken the initiative in many progressive measures. Through her efforts domestic science and art for the girls, and manual training for the boys, were introduced in the grades in the city, her efforts being to give to the children who never reach the high school, all they can possibly get from their school life which will be useful in after life.
.
Miss Trescott is (1916) vice-president of the Wilkes-Barre City School Board,
and vice-president of the School Direc- tors' Association of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association, and of the Women Lawyers' Association of New York City. She is also a member of the Young Women's Christian Association, the Wilkes-Barre Civic League, the Luzerne County Woman Suffrage League, the Wyoming Valley Historical Society, the Florence Crittenton Circle of Wilkes- Barre, the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and the Luzerne County Farm Bureau.
GRAHAM, John, Man of Enterprise.
Among old and well-known families of the western part of the State of Pennsyl- vania is the Graham family, who have been located in Allegheny county since 1828. The ancestry of the family is Irish, and the first one of this line to seek a home in America was Thomas Graham, who in 1817 came from Ireland to Phila- delphia, where he engaged in the manu- facture of snuff, and where his death oc- curred; he married, and was the father of three sons and four daughters, among them being: Thomas, Sally, and John, of whom below.
John Graham, son of Thomas Graham, the immigrant, was born in Ireland, in 1806. He received his early education there, and at the age of eleven years crossed the ocean with his father, passing his early life in Philadelphia. He mar- ried, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mary Bishop, born in Germantown, Pennsyl- vania, in 1809, died in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1881, daughter of George Bishop, a native of England, who after coming to America settled in German- town, where he died; George Bishop's wife was a native of France. After his marriage, John Graham left Philadelphia,
2431
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
and with his wife came to Allegheny county in 1828. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and first resided on Chartiers creek, Robinson township. In 1856 John Graham moved to Temperanceville, Alle- gheny county, where he resided until his death. A man of much public spirit, he aided all movements that tended to im- prove his section. In politics he was a Republican, but would never accept office. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, and active in all charitable and religious work. John and Mary (Bishop) Graham were the parents of children : Paul, deceased ; Thomas, de- ceased ; James, deceased ; Eves Ann, mar- ried Samuel M. Grace, deceased; lives in Pittsburgh; William, deceased; Mary, married James R. Bly, now deceased ; John M., resident of Allegheny county ; Albert, whose biography and portrait, together with biographies and portraits of his sons, H. C. and Charles J., follow this biography ; Samuel B., of Belle Vernon ; Frank M., of Crafton, Pennsylvania.
The death of John Graham, which oc- curred in Temperanceville, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1879, de- prived the county of one of her most respected men. He was a man of broad human sympathy, kindly and affable, and those who knew him personally accorded him the highest esteem.
GRAHAM, Albert,
Founder of Important Manufacturing Busi- ness.
Nut Company, and identified for many years with the vital interests of the Iron City.
Albert Graham, son of the late John and Mary (Bishop) Graham, was born in Robinson township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1848. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of Temperanceville and Pittsburgh, and later worked in a rolling mill. He began the business of life as clerk in a general store in Bayard, Ohio, and later became bookkeeper in the employ of a saw-mill proprietor at Temperanceville, remaining five years. The following three years he passed as paymaster of the Eagle Roll- ing Mills, and was then for seven years bookkeeper for a contractor. In 1881 Mr. Graham became bookkeeper and traveling salesman for William Charles & Com- pany, manufacturers of nuts, his territory being all the district east of the Missis- sippi river. Twelve years after forming a connection with this firm he obtained an interest in the business. In 1895 he be- came owner, continuing the manufacture of nuts under the old name until 1902, when the firm name was changed to the Graham Nut Company, which was incor- porated the following year with Mr. Gra- ham president. In May, 1914, Mr. Gra- ham retired from the presidency of the company, and was made chairman of the board of directors, his son, Harry C. Graham, becoming president; his son, Charles J., vice-president ; and Charles W. Gray, secretary and treasurer.
The supremacy of Pittsburgh among Since 1889 the factory of the concern had been in Allegheny, but in 1904 was moved to Neville Island, the offices of the company being at 1317-19 West Carson street, Pittsburgh. Enormous forward strides have been taken by the Graham Nut Company in its new location, its growth being shown by an enumeration the industrial cities of the world is the supremacy of superior brain-power, and describing a man as a leading Pittsburgh manufacturer is equivalent to saying that he possesses intelligence of a high order and touches life at many points. A man of this type is Albert Graham, chairman of the board of directors of the Graham of the buildings containing it. In 1904 the
2432
The Laws Historical Far
albert Graham
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
enterprise was housed in a building ican Bolt Company, of Birmingham, sixty by one hundred and seventy-five Alabama ; director since 1899 in the West End Savings Bank and Trust Company ; and president and director of the Crafton- Ingram Building and Loan Association. He is also a stockholder and director of the Loucks Iron & Steel Company, of Roanoke, Virginia. feet, its later expansion demanding ac- commodations that made necessary the erection of three others-one eighty- five feet square; another four hundred and sixty by four hundred and sixteen feet ; a third, forty by one hundred and twelve feet ; and another smaller ; and in Seldom is it that a man as active and successful in business as Mr. Graham takes the keen and helpful interest in civic affairs to which his record bears testi- mony. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, the West End Board of Trade, and the Crafton Board of Trade. In politics he is affiliated with the Republican party. A man of action rather than words, he demonstrates his public spirit by actual achievements which advance the prosperity and wealth of the community. A member of the Masonic fraternity, he has attained to the thirty-second degree, belonging to Craf- ton Lodge, No. 653, Free and Accepted Masons: Cyrus Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Chartiers Commandery, Knights Templar ; and Pittsburgh Consistory. He is also a member of Syria Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also numbered among the members of the Royal Arcanum. As 2 clubman he holds membership in the Union Club of Pittsburgh and the Thorn- burg Country Club. He is also vice- president of the Crafton Athletic Asso- ciation. He is a member and president of the board of trustees of the First Metho- dist Episcopal Church, of Crafton, Penn- sylvania (the suburb of Pittsburgh in which he lives). these five buildings is employed a force numbering over three hundred. Agents for the company cover the entire coun- try, and to the original line has been added the manufacture of bolts, the entire product of the company being favorably known. In no small measure has the rapid growth of this firm been due to Mr. Graham's tireless industry and energy. His training qualified him for carrying on a large business enterprise, and his close application to the business of his firm has given him remarkable success. The in- dustry which he has built up is of great value in itself and of relative importance in the industrial development and per- manent prosperity of Pittsburgh. A man of singularly strong personality, he has exerted a wonderful influence on his asso- ciates and subordinates, and toward the latter in particular his conduct has ever been marked by a degree of kindness and consideration which has won for him their loyal support and hearty cooperation. Force and resolution, combined with a genial disposition, are depicted in his countenance, and his simple, dignified and affable manners attract all who are brought into contact with him. He is one of the men who number friends in all classes of society.
The thorough business qualifications of Mr. Graham have always been in good demand on boards of directors of different organizations, and his public spirit has led him to accept many such trusts. He is a stockholder and director of the Amer-
Mr. Graham married (first) Anna Belle, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, daugh- ter of the late William and Ann Colling, and they were the parents of the follow- ing children: I. Harry C. 2. Charles J. 3. Anna Belle, wife of James C. Redman,
2433
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of Dormont, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Graham died in 1884, and Mr. Graham married (second) Annie L. Hooker, of Maryland. Children of Albert and Annie L. (Hooker) Graham: 4. Elizabeth F., mar- ried F. C. Zercher, of Greensburg, Penn- sylvania. 5. John C. 6. Albert M. 7. Ruth Lee. 8. Kenneth, deceased.
Albert Graham's career may be sum- med up in one word-success-the result of his own unaided efforts. In common with his city he seems to possess that secret of perpetual energy which science cannot explain. Throughout his career, Mr. Graham has been animated by the spirit of progress, ever pressing forward and seeking to make the good better and the better best. He has furnished a true picture of the ideal manufacturer, one who creates and adds to the wealth of nations while advancing his own inter- ests. The great industrial organization which he has developed is a monument to his far-sighted business ability, but no less is it a monument to his philanthropy. He has given to hundreds employment and opportunities for self-culture and self-development, and the wealth which has come to him he has held in trust for the less fortunate of his fellows. His record is one that will endure.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.