USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. X > Part 6
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proved himself to be a dependable man under any circumstances and in any emergency. Possessing as he did strong mental endowments, and best of all a rare treasury of common sense, James K. Lanahan's business capacity was remark- able and his judgment of men excep- tional. He was a large stockholder in the Lustre Mining Company, and in many other financial concerns, and owned, moreover, much valuable real estate, being a fine judge of its dormant possibilities. In 1888 he relinquished the proprietorship of the St. James Hotel.
As a citizen with exalted ideas of good government and civic virtue, Mr. Lana- han stood in the front rank, never refus- ing his influence and support to any movement which, in his judgment, tended to advance the welfare of Pitts- burgh. His political affiliations were with the Democrats, and he consented to serve one term as member of Council from the Ninth Ward, but took little active interest in political questions. Ever ready to respond to any deserving call made upon him, he was widely, but unos- tentatiously, charitable. He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the Sacred Heart congregation. A man of great tenacity of purpose, an extraordinary degree of force and such persistency as is rarely met with, these characteristics were depicted on his countenance, as were also the cordiality and kindliness which, in combination with his unim- peachable integrity, gained for him the public confidence and surrounded him with hosts of friends.
Mr. Lanahan married, July 2, 1867, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mary A., daughter of Frank and Catherine (Smith) Reilly, of Pittsburgh, and they became the parents of the following children : Frank J .; J. Stevenson; Susanne, wife of William M. Anderson; and Florence,
widow of William D. Phelan. Mrs. Lanahan, a woman whose winning per- sonality has gained for her much social popularity, was a true helpmate to her husband, whose devotion to his wife and family was one of his most marked char- acteristics, and whose happiest hours were passed in the home circle.
The death of Mr. Lanahan, which occurred January 29, 1899, deprived Pitts- burgh of one of her most valued citizens. a man who owed the success of his life to no inherited fortune nor to any combina- tion of advantageous circumstances, but to his own sturdy will, steady applica- tion, tireless industry and sterling quali- ties of manhood. Kindliness and appre- ciation of the good traits of others con- stituted salient features in his character, and his life was in large measure an exem- plification of his belief in the brotherhood of mankind.
James K. Lanahan was a noble type of the self-made man. The architect of his fortune, in rearing the fair fabric of his own prosperity he aided largely in the upbuilding of the power and prestige of his adopted city, and Pittsburgh to-day holds his name and memory in honor.
FOSTER, Charles H. Efficient Citizen.
Now well over the mark which admit- ted him to the rank of octogenarian,- just past his eighty-fifth birthday, to be exact,-Charles H. Foster, of Pittston, gives little evidence of the great weight of years he carries. For almost seventy of those years Pittston has been his home, and there is no phase of Pittston's devel- opment but what he has watched from its beginning. He has prospered in his per- sonal business undertakings, and during his long life of activity and years of retirement has held the highest respect
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of the community in which he has so long resided. He is a grandson of Reuben Foster, born in New Hampshire, who came to Oneida county, New York, prior to the year 1800, and there conducted a small farm. His son, Reuben (2) Fos- ter, was born in Oneida county, and there lived until his death in 1852, a carpenter and a caulker. He married Mary Jane Curtis, of Connecticut parentage, and they were the parents of: Charles H. Foster, of further mention; George A., deceased; Frances J., married David E. Wood, of Utica, New York; Margaret E., married Mr. Dennison, of Utica; and Jesse, of Utica, deceased.
Charles H. Foster, eldest son of Reu- ben (2) and Mary Jane (Curtis) Foster, was born at Bridgewater, Oneida county, New York, eighteen miles south of Utica, April 17, 1833. Until fourteen years of age he attended the public school, but he had two maternal uncles living at Pitts- ton, Pennsylvania, and in the early sum- mer of 1848 he started to join them. He traveled by stage to Binghamton, New York, thence by the same mode of con- veyance to Montrose, Pennsylvania, Tunkhannock to Pittston Ferry, arriving June 25, 1848. He found his uncles and found employment with one of them as clerk and driver with the firm, Wisner & Curtis, general merchants of Pittston. He continued with this firm two years, when they dissolved, Thomas E. Cur- tis establishing a similar business for himself. The young lad remained with his uncle Thomas E. Curtis, for a time, then became a clerk in the store of Thomas Ford & Co. Later he went west, and for two years was clerk in a general store at Winona, Min- nesota, then returned to Pittston, where soon afterward he married. He then accompanied the William Ford family to Virginia, settling in that part now West
Virginia, at St. Albans, in Kanawha county, on the Great Kanawha river. There he remained until the outbreak of war between the States, when he returned to Pittston, and established a general store at the corner of Main and Water streets, the building he occupied standing upon the present site of the First Na- tional Bank building. He continued in mercantile life until the year 1900, then, having reached the age of sixty-seven, and in possession of a competence, he retired from active business life, only retaining his place upon the directorate of the First National Bank of Pittston, a place which he has filled for fifty-four years, or since its organization in 1864. The foregoing record covers a period of fifty-two years-the boy of fifteen eagerly making his first journey by stage coach, giving way to the veteran retired mer- chant of sixty-seven, after a life of hon- est effort intelligently directed.
Equally remarkable is the record Mr. Foster has made in connection with the West Pittston school board. In 1876 he was elected school director, and the same year was chosen secretary of the board. During the forty-two years which have since elapsed, and with the exception of two years and ten days, he has served continuously in that office, elections and reëlections following without number. He is a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 233, Free and Accepted Masons, of Pitts- ton; Gohonto Lodge, No. 314, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, his mem- bership dating from May 6, 1854. In religious preference he is a Methodist.
Mr. Foster married, May 10, 1859, Mary Jane Ford, born August 26, 1834, daughter of William and Jane (Ireland) Ford of Pittston. Mr. and Mrs. Foster are the parents of a daughter and two sons : I. Alice, married Isaac L. Bevan, of Pitts- ton; their children: Robert, Lawrence,
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Paul, and Kenneth Bevan. 2. Oscar, mar- ried Isabel Allen; their children: Allen, Mary, Louise, Isabel, Florence and Cor- nelia Foster. 3. William L., married Ella Bryden; their children: Elsie, Don- ald, and Catherine Foster.
FAGAN, Charles A., Lawyer, Corporation Official.
Charles Aloysius Fagan is one of the prominent and successful lawyers of the Pittsburgh bar. He was born in Pitts- burgh, July 1, 1859, his parents being Thomas J. Fagan and Mary McLaughlin Fagan. His education was acquired suc- cessively at St. Mary's Academy, Ewalt College, and the Pittsburgh Catholic Col- lege.
He was admitted to the bar in 1887. For a time he held office as Deputy Dis- trict Attorney under District Attorney W. D. Porter, now judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the late Rich- ard H. Johnson, and displayed such abil- ity in his conduct of cases that he was appointed to the office of Assistant Dis- trict Attorney in 1894 by Hon. Robert E. Pattison, then Governor of Pennsylvania, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. John C. Haymaker, now judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny county. In his legal practice he has for a partner ex- Senator William A. Magee, the firm practicing under the title of Fagan & Magee. During the term of the latter as mayor of Pittsburgh, Mr. Fagan became associated in partnership with Robert T. McElroy, since deceased. The firm with which Mr. Fagan is connected has a gen- eral practice.
Mr. Fagan gives his political support to the principles of the Democratic party, and has been an active factor in the coun- cils of this party. He was Democratic presidential elector for the Twenty-
second Congressional District of Penn- slyvania in 1892, and was chairman of the Democratic County Committee of Alle- gheny County, 1894-95. The following year he was elected one of the delegates- at-large to the Democratic National Con- vention of that year; and was a delegate to the Democratic Convention held at St. Louis in 1916.
In addition to the demands made upon Mr. Fagan by his legal work, he is inter- ested in a number of corporate institu- tions, being vice-president of the Iron City Sanitary Manufacturing Company ; director in the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Ship Canal Company, the Anthracite Coal Company, the Natalie & Mt. Carmel Railroad Company, the East Williston Colony Company of New York, the Lake Shore Realty Company of Ohio, and other corporations.
He is a member of the Duquesne Club, the Union Club, the Pittsburgh Country Club, the Oakmont Country Club and the Pittsburgh Press Club. He is the presi- dent of the Pittsburgh Hospital; is a member of the board of directors of the Boys' Industrial School of Allegheny County, and a member of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society.
Mr. Fagan married, February 9, 1887, Miss Mary Kane, daughter of Mr. P. C. Kane, a retired merchant of Pittsburgh. They have had children : Marie, now Mrs. George L. Walter, Jr .; Jean, Grace, Dorothy, and Charles A., Jr. The family resides at North Highland avenue and St. Marie street, East End, Pittsburgh.
WOLF, Samuel M., M. D., Physician, Enterprising Citizen.
About the year 1780, Jacob Wolf left his home in his native Bucks county, and came to the Wyoming Valley, of Penn- sylvania, settling in Union township, Lu-
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zerne county, where he acquired land, worshiped with the pioneers as a Bap- tist, and died, honored and respected, at the age of seventy-eight. He was one of the men who laid the foundations for the present prosperity of that section, and founded a family of strong men and women who have worthily borne their part in the upbuilding of the community with which their lot was cast. A century later a great-grandson, Dr. Samuel M. Wolf, was a school boy in the district school of the township the pioneers founded, and from that school went out to higher institutions of classical and pro- fessional learning, returning to practice his healing art in the chief city of the Valley, where he has now been located for nearly a quarter of a century, 1895- 1918.
Jacob Wolf reared a family of sons and daughters on the old homestead in Union township, among them a son, Samuel Wolf, who aided in clearing and culti- vating the home farm, remaining thereon until his marriage to Catherine Roberts in 1828. He then rented a farm near Muhlenburg, Union township, upon which he remained four years, prospering suf- ficiently during that period to enable him to purchase eighty acres of wild land upon which the former owner had built a log house. There Samuel Wolf and his wife resided for several years, but prosperity attended them, and from the bountiful field of their well-tilled acres a fund was accumulated, which in time was used to replace the log house with one of modern design and construction. There Samuel Wolf lived his many years, a man well liked and respected, a town officer, a Baptist, and a Republican. He died in 1878, aged sev- enty-six years, his wife preceding him to the grave in 1867, at the age of seventy. They were the parents of eleven daugh-
ters and sons, the eldest, Stephen R., being the father of Dr. Samuel M. Wolf, whose useful life is the inspiration of this review.
Stephen R. Wolf was born at Muhlen- burg, Union township, Pennsylvania, No- vember 12, 1827, there resided all his life, a farmer, and there died, December 9, 1903. He was skilled in the use of tools and did considerable carpenter work in connection with his farming operations, and also took an active part in township public affairs, holding at different times nearly every office of the town. Like his sires, he was a devoted member of the Baptist church, holding the office of clerk, and in his political faith he was a Re- publican. Stephen R. Wolf married (first) October 2, 1852, Dorcas Ben- scoter, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Ben- scoter; she died March 30, 1853. He married (second) January 5, 1854, Ellen Harding, daughter of James and Saman- tha Harding; she died January, 1861. He married (third) January 5, 1862, Rachel E. Muchler, daughter of George and Margaret Muchler. Stephen R. and Ellen (Harding) Wolf had children : Catherine, Jessie, and Chester B. Wolf. Stephen R. and his third wife, Rachel E. (Muchler) Wolf, were the parents of a daughter, Margaret, and two sons, Ed- ward I. and Samuel M. Wolf.
Such were the antecendents of Dr. Samuel M. Wolf, of Wilkes-Barre, Penn- sylvania, one of the prominent physicians of the Wyoming Valley, a true, native son, long located in his present environ- ment. He was born at the home farm at Muhlenburg, Union township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, August 22, 1868. He attended the district school until ex- hausting their advantages, then became a student at Nanticoke High School, where he completed the courses. He continued his father's assistant at the
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home farm, but laid his plans for the future broad and deep, beginning to put them into execution in 1891 by matricu- lating at Jefferson Medical College, Phil- adelphia. There he pursued a three years' course and was awarded the degree of M. D. with the graduating class of May 9, 1894. The balance of that year and a greater part of the year 1895, he served as interne at Jefferson Medical College Hos- pital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then lo- cated in Wilkes-Barre, opening his first office on Academy street, there remaining until 1915, when he moved to his present location on Franklin street. While his prac- tice was general for several years, Dr. Wolf now specializes in general surgery, and has won wide recognition for his skill in that branch of his profession. He was surgeon to Mercy Hospital from its organization until 1913; was surgeon to Luzerne County Prison for four years, but the demands of his private practice now fully employ his time. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Association, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and Luzerne County Medical Society. He has acquired business interests in the city of his adoption, particularly in real estate lines, and is deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the city.
Dr. Wolf married, August 22, 1903, Bessie Straw, born May 26, 1870, daugh- ter of Captain Cyrus and Sarah (Leach) Straw, of Wilkes-Barre. Dr. and Mrs. Wolf are the parents of a son and two daughters: Sarah, born May 28, 1904; Samuel M., born February 8, 1906; and Rachel, born March 3, 1909.
LOOMIS, William Drake, Real Estate Operator.
William Drake Loomis, prominent real estate dealer, public-spirited citizen and popular man of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl-
vania, is a member of a very ancient New England family, which had its origin in Essexshire, England, from which place the name was brought to America only eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrim fathers. Mr. Loomis is a de- scendant of one Joseph Loomis, who was a woolen draper of Braintree, Essex- shire, and who sailed for the New Eng- land Colonies on April 11, 1638, in the good ship "Susan & Ellen." On July 17, 1638, he arrived in Boston and we find it mentioned in the records of Windsor, Connecticut, that he purchased a piece of land in that town, February 24, 1640.
His son, Deacon John Loomis, was also born in England, in the year 1622, and came to this country undoubtedly with his father. He was admitted to the church at Windsor, October 11, 1640, and was prominent in the affairs of that town. He was married to Elizabeth Scott, a daughter of Thomas Scott, of Hartford, in which town they were married, Febru- ary 3, 1649. He was a representative to the General Court of Connecticut in 1666- 67-75-76-77, and was deacon of the Wind- sor church for many years. His death occurred September 1, 1688, and his mon- ument is still standing in the old Wind- sor Burying Grounds.
Thomas Loomis, third son of Deacon John Loomis, was born December 3, 1653, at his father's home at Windsor, and lived there during his entire life. He lived a comparatively quiet life, and his name does not appear with any very great frequency on the town records. He married Sarah White, March 31, 1680, and his death occurred August 17, 1688, only eight years later. His son, Thomas Loomis, who is known as Thomas Loomis, of Hatfield, to distinguish him from his father, who is called Thomas Loomis, of Windsor, was the second son of his parents, and was born April 20,
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1684. His early life was spent in his native town of Windsor, but he later removed to Hartford, where he married January 8, 1713, Elizabeth Fowler, and died April 20, 1765.
Lieutenant Thomas Loomis, of Leb- anon, Connecticut, was the only child of Thomas and Elizabeth (Fowler) Loomis, of Hatfield, where he was born in the year 1714. When twenty years of age, in the year 1734, he married Susannah Clark, and his death occurred at Leb- anon, February 27, 1792. Captain Isaiah Loomis, son of Lieutenant Thomas and Susannah (Clark) Loomis, was born at Lebanon, September 1I, 1749. He served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and died in his native place, November 20, 1834. He married Abigail Williams, by whom he had a family of children.
Sherman Loomis, second son of Cap- tain Isaiah and Abigail (Williams) Loomis, was born at Lebanon, Connecti- cut, May 27, 1787, and married, Novem- ber 15, 1810, Elizabeth Champlin, who was a sister of Commodore William Champlin, a nephew of Commodore Perry, and was with Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, and was supposed to have fired the first and last gun on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Mr. Loomis afterwards removed to Center Moreland, Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, the date of his migration to this place being the year 1816. He was the pioneer of the family in Pennsylvania and continued to live in his new home until his death, which occurred March 18, 1867.
William Wallace Loomis, third son of Sherman and Elizabeth (Champlin) Loomis, was born July 14, 1815, at Leb- anon, Connecticut. When only one year of age he was brought by his parents to Pennsylvania and there grew to man- hood. At the age of twelve he came to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he
resided until his death, save for a short interval of three years. He was very prominent in the affairs of this commun- ity, was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church there from 1834 until his death, and at the time of this occurrence he was the oldest member of that church. He was at one time the candidate of the Republican party for the office of county treasurer, but was defeated by his adver- sary, Edmund Taylor, the Democratic candidate. From 1854 to 1861, inclusive, he was burgess of the borough of Wilkes- Barre, and from 1877 to 1880 was mayor of this city. For many years he held the office of trustee of Wyoming Semin- ary, and was greatly interested in the cause of education. He was a charter member of the Home for Friendless Chil- dren; from the time of its incorporation in 1862 he was a trustee, and he also served this institution as its treasurer for about two years. William Wallace Loomis was prominently identified with the Masonic Order, and was a member and the treas- urer of Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons, of Wilkes-Barre. His death occurred August 2, 1894, and he was undoubtedly one of the most popular and best known citizens of his adopted town in his day.
William Wallace Loomis married (first), February 23, 1841, Ellen E. Drake, a daughter of Benjamin Drake, of Wilkes- Barre, whose death occurred June 25, 1845. They were the parents of two chil- dren: Nancy, who died in infancy, and William Drake, with whose career we are here especially concerned. He married (second) Elizabeth R. Blanchard, a daughter of Jeremiah Blanchard, and they were the parents of Fannie L., now widow of Colonel S. A. Urquhart; Sher- man, who died in infancy; and George Peck Loomis. He married (third) La- vina Wilcox, no issue.
William Drake Loomis, son of William
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Wallace and Ellen E. (Drake) Loomis, was born August 18, 1844, at Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania. He has made his native city his home practically ever since. It was here that he received the elementary portion of his education, attending for this purpose the local pub- lic schools, and he was afterwards sent to the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania, where he completed his general education. Upon leaving this institution, the young man was appointed in the United States Navy, the date being September, 1864, while the Civil War was still waging. He was appointed paymas- ter steward on the United States sloop, "Granite," one of the small vessels attached to the North Atlantic block- ading squadron, and later was appointed captain's clerk on the United States steamer, "Mackinaw." Here he remained until he received his honorable discharge from the service at Newbern, North Caro- lina, early in the summer of 1865. Being thus released from service, Mr. Loomis at once returned to the North and took up his home at Wilkes-Barre, where his peaceful life had been so rudely inter- rupted something more than a year before by the alarms of war. Here he engaged in the real estate business and has con- tinued therein for nearly half a century, and is now regarded as one of the most substantial citizens there. His entire career has been such as to add without intermission to his reputation for honor and integrity, and he has a record for square dealing second to none in the region. He is still very actively engaged in this line, and his business is as large as ever. Mr. Loomis is a conspicuous figure in many other aspects of the life of Wilkes-Barre, and is prominently iden- tified with many organizations there, fra- ternal and otherwise. He keeps his mili- tary associations won in the Civil War
always green through his membership in the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he is a member of the Westmoreland Club and of the Panther Creek Club, and a non-resident member of the Hazleton Country Club.
William Drake Loomis was united in marriage, February 4, 1868, with Frances Evelyn Stewart, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Stewart, old and highly respected residents of Scranton, where Mr. Stewart was a prominent busi- ness man for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Loomis are the parents of the following children : Bruce E., a graduate of Lehigh University, and now a resident of New York City ; Ellen E., deceased; Ida, who died in early childhood ; and Earl, a grad- uate of Princeton University, and now engaged in practice as a Civil Engineer at Allentown, Pennsylvania.
KAUFMANN, Isaac, Founder of a Mighty Business.
Great nations, commonwealths, munic- ipalities, are the creations of great men. Some renowned for their statesmen, phil- osophers, poets, artists, others for cap- tains of industries, financiers and mer- chants. All are thinkers, dreamers, build- ers, creators, supplying driving energy to the world's progress.
Pittsburgh's "Place in the Sun" is pre- ëminent. As a great center of learning, industry and commerce, the whole world has made a path to her door, and her great men number among the world's greatest. Conspicuous in the mercantile history of Pittsburgh, is the name of Isaac Kaufmann, president and director of the Kaufmann Department Stores.
Isaac Kaufmann, born of Abraham and Sarah (Wolf) Kaufmann, at Viernheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, May 15, 1851. There he lived and received his
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Isaac Kaufmann
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education until his sixteenth year, and in May, 1869, stirred by ambitions and yearning to carve his career, he boldly sailed for the "land of opportunity" across the seas, locating in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here for several years in various capacities, he prepared himself for his future career, by learning the lan- guage and customs of his adopted land. In March, 1871, with his brother Jacob as his partner, Isaac Kaufmann opened a little clothing furnishing store on the South Side of Pittsburgh, which was at the time called Birmingham. Originally the firm was known as J. Kaufmann & Bro., but later two other brothers, Morris and Henry, became partners, and the company was afterwards identified as Kaufmann Brothers. Jacob Kaufmann died November 1, 1905.
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