USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 33
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Children of Lazarus D. and Esther Waller (Wadhams) Shoemaker: Clorinda Wadhams, deceased, married Irving Ariel Stearns; Samuel Wadhams, died unmar- ried, aged twenty-six years ; Stella Mercer, died in childhood; Elizabeth, married George L. Dickerman; Caroline Ives, married William George Phelps; Levi Ives, M. D., deceased, of Wilkes-Barre, married Cornelia Scranton, of Scranton, Pennsylvania ; Jane A., of Wilkes-Barre ; Esther Wadhams, married Robert Van Arsdale Norris; Anna Denison, died in childhood.
HOLLENBACK, John W., Public-Spirited Citizen, Philanthropist.
Among the many forces that contribute to the upbuilding of a city, the most im- portant is men. Location advantages, soil and climate, exist everywhere, but only where broadminded, big-hearted, public-spirited men agree to settle, to build, and to create, does a prosperous city grow. Wilkes-Barre is a man-made city, and among the men who have con- tributed to her upbuilding, to her insti- tutions, and to her fame, John W. Hollen- back, the veteran financier, man of affairs, and public-spirited citizen deserves promi- nent mention. Nor has Wilkes-Barre
profited solely by his business enterprise. His recent gift of Hollenback Park, a tract of one hundred acres adjoining the city, his interest in the welfare of the church, the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, and every good cause, all stamp him as a public-spirited, progressive and valuable citizen. Far beyond the confines of his own city his liberal hand has also bestowed blessings that will make the path of men easier to travel. For fifty years he has been a trustee of Lafayette Col- lege, and is now the only living member of the board elected in 1865. During these years his friendship for that college has never wavered, and when sometimes the way seemed blocked financially, it has been his purse that was the first to open. There are many such instances that could be recorded, as his keen interest and knowledge of the needs of the college often anticipated the spoken request, his gifts being not only large and frequent, but most timely. Even this item of his work for Lafayette fades away before his long term of service in her business in- terest, before the sound judgment that he freely gave to the college, and the wealth of influence exerted in her behalf. In a life now extending over a period of eighty-eight years, there is nothing but satisfaction to be gained by Mr. Hollen- back as he reviews his useful years.
Born Welles, Mr. Hollenback secured in 1862 authority to change his name from John Roset Welles to John Welles Hol- lenback, adding to the paternal surname Welles the maternal surname Hollen- back, and dropping Roset.
Mr. Hollenback, on both paternal and maternal lines, traces to prominent and early colonial families of Pennsylvania and New England, the Hollisters, Tal- cotts, Holyokes, Pynchons, and Welles, all of whom were among the earliest set- tlers of the Connecticut Valley. The Hol-
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lenback ancestor was George, who came from Germany in 1717 and founded a family. John, son of George Hollenback, took up land in Lebanon county, and his son, Colonel Matthias Hollenback, came to Wyoming Valley in 1770. He moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1774, bought land on what is now the west side of the "Square", and built a large frame house for store and dwelling. He fought all through the war of the Revolution, and was at Brandy- wine, Princeton, Millstone, and Wyo- ming, narrowly escaping massacre. After the war he became a prosperous merchant and large land owner, was justice of the peace, judge of common pleas, associate judge for thirty-four years, first treasurer of Luzerne county, and burgess of Wilkes- Barre, and exerted much influence upon the progress and elevation of the country. He was a noted friend of public improve- ments, provided employment for many laborers, furnished supplies to multitudes of new settlers, and was a living example of industry and economy. His eldest daughter by his first wife, Sarah Hibbard, was Eleanor Jones Hollenback, who mar- ried Charles Fisher Welles, and was the mother of John Welles Hollenback, of previous and further mention.
Charles Fisher Welles was for many years a prominent figure in Bradford county civil and business history. Born in Connecticut, he was brought by his father to Pennsylvania when nine years of age, and from the organization of Brad- ford county in 1812 until 1822 he was con- stantly in public life as prothonotary, clerk of courts, register, and recorder. In 1822 he removed to Wyalusing, Pennsyl- vania, devoting himself to farming and the care of his various business interests until his death in 1866, aged nearly seventy-seven years. He married, August 15, 1816, Ellen Jones Hollenback, born January 21, 1788, died March 14, 1876.
Charles Fisher Welles was a son of George Welles, the pioneer of the Welles family in northern Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Yale, A. B. 1799. He was a man of strong, upright character, and very influential. He married Prudence, daughter of Colonel Elizur Talcott. George Welles was a descendant of Thomas Welles, of Connecticut, a man of means and influence, Governor of Con- necticut, a leader of the people, a framer and administrator of the law, and founder of one of the most notable of American families.
John Welles Hollenback was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827, son of Charles Fisher and Eleanor Jones (Hollenback) Welles. He was educated at Athens (Pennsylvania) Academy, and on arriving at legal age became manager of the paternal estate in Wyalusing, a service he performed from 1848 until 1863. In 1863 he became a resident of Wilkes- Barre, which city has since been his home, and where he has become one of the leaders in the business world and prominent in civil life. On the organiza- tion of the People's Bank in 1872, he was chosen director, and from that date he has been a member of the board, also serving as president for many years, still holding that honorable position. He was for many years president of the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company, is president of the Hol- lenback Cemetery Association, director of the Title Guaranty and Insurance Com- pany of Scranton, director of the Scranton Trust Company, an ex-director of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New York, president of the Wilkes-Barre Lace Company, director of the Sheldon Axle Works, director of the Hazard Manufacturing Company, and has other large property interests, landed and cor- porate. In other ways Mr. Hollenback has contributed to Wilkes-Barre's pros-
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perity. He is a director of Harry Hill- man Academy, has been a director of Wilkes-Barre City Hospital since its founding, and is now a member of the board of trustees, has been a director of the Young Men's Christian Association from its beginning, and is an ex-president of the association, is a life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological So- ciety, was its vice-president in 1875-1878, and president 1879-1880, and is vice-presi- dent of the Commemorative Association.
Mr. Hollenback was elected a trustee of Lafayette College in 1865, and has been a member of the board continuously until the present. He served as president of the board in 1892, and is the last living member of the board as it was constituted upon his entrance in 1865. For sixty-six years he has been an elder of the Presby- terian church, has represented Lacka- wanna Presbytery in the General As- sembly of the church, and is one of the leading laymen of the denomination. In politics he is a Republican, having served his city six years as common councilman. His gift of one hundred acres of land to the city to be known as Hollenback Park was announced in 1914, and is a noble gift to that city's park area.
Mr. Hollenback married (first) October 25, 1854, Anna E., daughter of Eli Beard, of Brooklyn, New York. He married (second) December 13, 1866, Josephine, daughter of John Woodward, of New York City. He married (third) Amelia Beard, sister of his first wife. Three chil- dren were borne by each wife : Walter, died in childhood; Samuel, died in infancy ; Emily B., married Dr. Lewis H. Taylor, of Wilkes-Barre; Eleanor J., married Murray J. Gibson, of Philadelphia ; Jo- sephine W., married Louis V. Twyeffort, of Brooklyn, New York; Anna W .; Julia, died in infancy ; Amelia ; and Juliette.
LEAVENWORTH, Woodward,
Financier, Enterprising Citizen.
The immigration of the Leavenworth family to America from England took place between 1664 and 1680. In the family in England there were personages of consequence, for a coat-of-arms was held by them and was preserved by their descendants. The founder of the family in America was Thomas Leavenworth, of Woodbury, in the Connecticut colony. He was born in England, and died in Woodbury, August 3, 1683, his wife, Grace, surviving him. She died, as sup- posed, in 1715. The Leavenworth home in Woodbury was in the place called Good Hill, and there the family lived many years, in the west part of the town, not far from the Roxbury line. His brother, John, also born in England, doubtless came with him to America. He settled first in Woodbury, and removed thence to Stratford, Connecticut, where he died in 1702, without issue, and probably unmar- ried. Thomas Leavenworth and his wife, Grace, had children : Thomas, John; and a daughter whose name is unknown.
Thomas Leavenworth, son of the im- migrants Thomas and Grace, was born probably in Woodbury, but possibly in England. He was a physician, a man evi- dently of means and social position, and one of the original members of the church in Ripton, in the records being mentioned as "Deacon". He was of Stratford in 1695, and was received into the church there, 1697-1698. He left a large prop- erty, and gave his children the advantages of a good education, and all of them be- came useful and prominent men and women in their walks of life. Dr. Thomas married in Stratford, about 1698, Mary Jenkins, who died in Ripton, June, 1768, daughter of David Jenkins and his wife, Grace. Dr. Thomas died in Ripton, Au-
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gust 4, 1754. He had children: James, David, Ebenezer, John, Zebulon, Mark, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Sarah, Edmund.
Thomas Leavenworth, son of Dr. Thomas Leavenworth and wife, Mary Jenkins, was born in Stratford Connecti- cut. He received, July 6, 1748, from his father, one whole right in commonage in Woodbury, and one-third of the re- mainder of said rights in commonage with £100 (old tenor). In 1727 he was collector of rates in Ripton. He was a tanner and settled in Woodbury, but failed in busi- ness and went to Wyoming in Pennsyl- vania, where he again set up in tanning, but was driven out by the Indians in 1778, and while within sight of his home he saw it in flames. When driven out of the val- ley, Thomas Leavenworth with his family picked his way as best he could through the woods of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, living mainly on berries, and finally reached friends in Connecticut with only the few clothes which they wore. Dorman, the youngest child, he led by the hand. Asa and others of the older prob- ably never went to Pennsylvania. Thom- as' failure in early life in Woodbury, and the second loss of all his property in the Wyoming Valley, was a disheartening misfortune, but did not prevent him from so raising and educating his children as to enable them to attain independent posi- tions in society. He returned with his family to Oxford, Connecticut, and died there after 1795, at the home of his son, Gideon, in Hampden. This Thomas mar- ried (first) "Betty" Davis, who died April 24, 1758. He married (second) October IO, 1758, Rhoda Olds, died in Watertown, May 1, 1794. Children of both marriages : Asa, Triphena, Gideon, Samuel, David, Betty, Isaac, Abel, Thomas, Dorman.
Gideon Leavenworth, third child of Thomas and Betty (Davis) Leaven- worth, lived in Watertown, and later in
Hampden, and while young removed to the Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania. He afterward returned to Hampden, re- moving thence to New Marlborough, Massachusetts, and from there returned to Watertown, where he died in the old Trumbull house, June 7, 1833. Gideon Leavenworth was remarkably familiar with the genealogy of his entire family, and there was hardly one of its members from the time of Dr. Thomas, of Ripton, with whose name, residence and business he was not familiar. The "Leavenworth Genealogy," published in 1873, was a re- vision and extension of his own earlier work. He was a millwright, and built mills in various places in early life. He lived in Oxford, Connecticut, in 1808, and in 1812 moved to Towanda, Pennsylvania, from Shepherd's Brook, in Hampden, Connecticut. He married Mary Cole, daughter of Thomas Cole, of Watertown, and had three children : John, Jared, Mary.
Jared Leavenworth, second son of Gideon Leavenworth and wife, Mary Cole, born March 8, 1780, died at Albany, New York, May 30, 1829, was at the time of his death a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a contractor on public works, and was prominently identi- fied with the construction of the Erie canal in New York State, and also with the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, the latter a Pennsylvania project. He mar- ried (first) May 2, 1800, Mary Osborn, born New Haven, Connecticut, August 30, 1782, died Savannah, Georgia, Septem- ber 19, 1812. He married (second) Jane Strope, born in Wysox, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1792, died at Towanda, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1841, daughter of Sebastian and Lydia Van Valkenburg Strope. Their children were: Susanna (Ist), Susanna (2nd), Henrietta, Matilda, Elma Ann, Franklin Jared.
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Franklin Jared Leavenworth, youngest child of Jared and Jane (Strope) Leaven- worth, was born January 24, 1827. He was educated at the old Towanda Acad- emy, and came to Wilkes-Barre in 1843. He read law with Luther Kidder, Esq., and was admitted to the bar January 10, 1848. He began practice in Wilkes-Barre, but at the end of about three years, op- portunities offered in other business occu- pations which promised more substantial reward and led him away from the ranks of the law. He became variously in- terested in coal, real estate, and mercan- tile business, and devoted his attention to those and allied pursuits so long as he engaged in active operations. In 1853 he removed to Scranton, and for some years was paymaster of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Com- pany, and superintendent of the Lacka- wanna & Bloomsburg railroad. In 1859 he went to New York City and was in the office of the comptroller and city chamberlain until 1863, when he engaged in banking. He soon afterward went to Philadelphia, and thence in 1865 to Wilkes-Barre, where he died August 31, 1909. For about thirty-five years he was vestryman and treasurer of St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church, and long a director and vice-president of the People's Bank of Wilkes-Barre.
Franklin J. Leavenworth married (first) June 1, 1848, Harriet C. Steele, born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1827, died without issue, July 25, 1849, only daughter of George P. Steele (former sheriff of Luzerne county, State Senator, etc.) and wife, Mary Christman. He mar- ried (second) November 6, 1852, Annie Woodward, born in Washington county, Kentucky, August 5, 1829, daughter of the Rev. Enos Woodward and wife, Sarah Murphy. He had by his second mar- riage: Woodward, Jane, Enos, Franklin, Annie.
Woodward Leavenworth, eldest son of Franklin J. and Annie (Woodward) Leavenworth, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1853, died at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1913. He was educated in the private schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania ; Brook- lyn, New York; Philadelphia, and Wilkes- Barre. At fourteen years of age he en- tered the First National Bank of Scranton to learn the banking business, remaining two years and holding various positions, then entered the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre as assistant cashier, and two years later engaged with his father in the coal and real estate business for one year, after which he was employed as confidential clerk with Conyngham & Company, shippers of coal, remaining as such for two years. When Charles Par- rish formed the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Company he took charge of the real estate department and was private sec- retary to Mr. Parrish, and during his connection with this company was also treasurer and secretary of the Hazard Manufacturing Company, which latter positions he held sixteen years. This com- pany was then located at Mauch Chunk, but later removed to Wilkes-Barre. In company with William H. and John N. Conyngham, sons of William L .Conyng- ham, he formed the Pennsylvania Supply Company, Mr. Leavenworth being the senior partner, and this connection con- tinued until February 29, 1904.
He assisted in forming the Red Ash Coal Company, organized in July, 1881, in which he was a director; he also served as secretary, later secretary and treasurer, and upon the death of George H. Parrish, December, 1898, was elected vice-president, and upon the death of M. B. Williams, October, 1903, was elected president, which position he held until his death. He was a director of the Wilkes- Barre Deposit and Savings Bank since
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1887, and was formerly a director of the Anthracite Savings Bank. In December, 1903, he was elected vice-president of the Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank, and on March 12, 1909, its president. In addition to his other large business in- terests, he managed a number of estates of which he was trustee.
He was one of the most eminent Free Masons of Pennsylvania, taking a deep interest in all branches of the order. As a member of the committee appointed to devise plans for the building of Irem Temple, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, came into possession of their beautiful Wilkes-Barre home. He held the thirty- two degrees of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and had been selected to re- ceive the thirty-third and highest Ameri- can degree of the order, but it had not been conferred. He was treasurer of the Wyoming Valley Homoeopathic Hospi- tal, a life member of the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society, and mem- ber of the Westmoreland and the Wyo- ming Valley Country clubs.
Though essentially a business man, the sympathies of Woodward Leavenworth were wide and deep, and the call of the needy especially appealed to him with great force. An instance of this was the annual dinner which for many years he gave to the newsboys of Wilkes-Barre. An index to his character may also be found in a fact concerning that dinner. So quietly did he move in its giving that it was several years before the boys knew to whom they were indebted for their feast. In the resolutions hereafter of record in this tribute to the memory of a good man, is shown the appreciation in which he was held by another band of devoted workers, the Young Men's Christian Association. In similar resolutions, his associates on the board of directors of the Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank testify to the
loving esteem in which they held their associate. In the Young Men's Christian Association building in Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Leavenworth placed the swimming pool as a memorial to his son, Woodward, Jr., a promising youth of fifteen when taken away, and the father's interest in the Boys' Department of the association ever continued without abatement.
Mr. Leavenworth married March 13, 1878, Miss Ida Cornelia Miller, daughter of Garrick Mallery and Jane Wilcox (Stark) Miller, of Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania. They had three chil- dren: I. Alice, married Frederick Perry Boynton, of Highland Park, Illinois ; and had Elizabeth Watson, Helen Leaven- worth, Woodward Leavenworth, Fred- erick Perry, and Mallery Miller. 2. Helen Louise, a graduate of Vassar College, and now wife of Benjamin C. Sloat, of New York City. 3. Woodward, Jr., born Feb- ruary 1, 1890, died February 7, 1905.
The following resolution was adopted by the Young Men's Christian Associ- ation of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in memory of Mr. Woodward Leavenworth, 1913:
The Board of Directors of the Young Men's Christian Association of Wilkes-Barre wish to record their deep appreciation of the devoted services of their late "Associate," Woodward Leavenworth. Mr. Leavenworth became a mem- ber of the board January, 1909, and continued as such until he was taken from ns. During this long period of service he worked zealously in the up- building of the work. Engrossed as he was with many interests and responsibilities, he never for- got liis obligation to his association, filled with deep religious conviction. He was a man of high ideals, wise and sympathetic and practical, his counsel was of very great value in all the under- takings of the association. He took especial inter- est in the Boys' Work, assisting in the planning of the new building and in the details of the separate work that had to be organized in connection with this branch of the association. As a friend and counsellor we will miss him greatly and desire to express to his wife and children our personal
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grief over the loss we have sustained. He left a name that is synonymous with honor and integrity in our community.
Also the following tribute to his memory was unanimously adopted by the officers of the Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank :
Memorial to be inscribed in the minutes of the Board of Directors of Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank and to be transmitted to the sor- rowing family of our late President Woodward Leavenworth, who on the twenty-sixth day of May, 1913, passed out of this life without preced- ing illness and without warning that might have prepared those about to be bereaved for the afflic- tion of so severe a blow.
On July 11, 1887, at the comparatively early age of thirty-four years, Mr. Leavenworth was elected to membership in this board because of the conser- vative sound business judgment and broad busi- ness experience for which he was then already distinguished. On December 11, 1903, he was elected vice-president, and on March 12, 1909, he became president. Correct in his standard of commercial honor, firm of purpose and courteous in method, his personality was an efficient force. Working successfully to maintain the prosperity and progress that had during many years marked this Bank's history under the administration of his predecessor, inspiring in his associates and co- laborers implicit confidence that whatever might be intrusted to him for negotiation or perform- ance was certain to be done well. Our official contact with him also gave frequent opportunity to learn and appreciate his exalted character in the private relations of life as Husband, Father, Citizen and Friend. We are impelled by a sense of personal loss, by sympathy in the grief of those who were closest and dearest to him, by sincere affection and unqualified respect to express and record this brief tribute to the memory of Mr. Leavenworth.
SPROUL, William C., Man of Diverse Talents.
While the United States has produced a host of versatile men of affairs, few have attained such remarkable success in so many different lines of activity as Wil- liam C. Sproul, editor, ironmaster, manu-
facturer, philanthropist and statesman. He springs from Scotch ancestry. Rob- ert Sproule, his great-great -- great-great- grandfather, however, moved to Ireland and settled near the village of Castlederg, County Tyrone, Ireland, where he died in 1680, his being the oldest gravestone in the cemetery surrounding the Presby- terian church in the village. The Ameri- can ancestor, Charles Sproul, a farmer of County Tyrone, Ireland, came to the United States in 1786, bringing a demit as a past master of a chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Magheracreggan that commended him to his brethren of the order "around the world." He settled in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, also lived in Chester county, and engaged in farming and in the operation of small iron furnaces or forges. His wife, Margaret Nelson, was also a native of County Tyrone.
Their son, James Sproul, born in Cas- tlederg, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1780, was brought to Pennsylvania by his par- ents in 1786, and died January 7, 1847. He obtained a good education, learned all his father could teach him of ironmaking processes, and became one of the more notable of early Pennsylvania iron found- ers. He had a chain of three forges and a bloomery on the Lancaster county side of Octoraro creek, and a large trade in finished iron, his principal warehouse being in the city of Lancaster. He be- came one of the wealthiest men of that county, and one of the largest landowners in the entire section. His widow Anne, daughter of William and Nancy (Dun- lap) Johnson, of Steeleville, Chester county, survived until December 21, 1889. Her dower rights, lasting for nearly forty-three years, covered much real estate in the two counties of Chester and Lancaster, which, with her other prop- erty, she handled with rare judgment.
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