USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. I > Part 11
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Personally, Mr. Ricketts is all that a gentleman should be under ordinary circumstances. He is a delightful companion among those with whom he has had no cause of contention. It is only when his apparently irresistible inclination to exaggerate his own grievances or those of his clients is upon him, that he is led into unfairness and injustice to his fellows-to the effort for the incar- ceration of the innocent citizen, and the pulling down of the unoffending judge.
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CALVIN WADHAMS.
CALVIN WADHAMS.
The family of Wadham had its origin in Devonshire, England, and its name from the place of its residence, Wadham, which signifies "home by the ford," in the parish Knowston, near the incorporated town of South Molton. Lyson, in his "Magna Brittanica," says: "The manor of Wadham, at the time of the Domesday survey, in 1086, belonged to an old Saxon by the name of Ulf, who held it in demesne since the time of Edward the Confessor, 1042. It was not improbable that he, Ulf, might be the ancestor of Wadham, of which this was the original resi- dence. William De Wadham was freeholder of this land in the time of King Edward I., 1272, and both East and West Wadham descended in this name and posterity until the death of Nicholas Wadham, founder of Wadham College, Oxford, in 1609, when it passed to his sisters' families, and is still in possession of their descendants. Merrifield, in Somersetshire, came into possession of Sir John Wadham, Knight, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Stephen Popham, and was inherited by their son, Sir John Wadham, whose descendants were called 'Wadham, of Merrifield.' The principal places of residence of this family in England were in the counties of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset."
Calvin Wadhams, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Plymouth, in Luzerne county, where he was born, December 14, 1833. He is a descendant of John Wadham, or Wadhams, as the name is now spelled, who came from Somersetshire, England, as early as 1650, and settled in Wethersfield, Conn., as may be seen from deeds of purchase of lands and other records of the town. He died there, 1676.
John Wadhams, son of John, born July 8, 1655, also died in Wethersfield.
Noah Wadhams, son of John, was born August 10, 1695, and removed from Wethersfield to Middletown, Conn., in 1736, thence to Goshen, Conn., about 1773, where he died, 1783.
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Noah Wadhams, son of Noah, was born May 17, 1726, and was educated at the College of New Jersey, now at Princeton, then at Newark, N. J., where he graduated. His diploma, dated September 25, 1754, is now in possession of the above-named Calvin Wadhams, his great-grandson. ] It bears the name of Rev. Aaron Burr (father of Aaron Burr, who was, in 1801, Vice- President of the United States) as President of the College. "The document is the surviving witness of three generations past and gone, and a testament, also, of the times of George III., and when the present State of New Jersey was one of the colonies of his realm." Mr. Wadhams studied theology at New Haven, Conn., receiving the degree of A. M. from Yale College, 1758. He was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church, and settled as the first pastor of the New Preston Society, in the towns of New Milford and Washington, Conn., at its organization, in 1757, and continued his pastoral relations to that society for eleven years. At a meeting of the Susquehanna Company, in Connecticut, in 1768 "the standing committee was directed to procure a pastor to accompany the second colony, called the 'first forty,' for carrying on religious worship and services, according to the best of his ability, in the wilderness country," and Rev. Noah Wadhams was chosen for that purpose. He had married Elizabeth Ingersoll, of New Haven, November 8, 1758, and they had a family of small children. "Leaving his family at their home in Litchfield, he embarked with his flock in 1769, amid the perils which lay before them on the distant shore of the Susquehanna, in a wilderness made more forbidding because of the savage people who were in possession of the valley." He continued his pastoral relations, interrupted by an occasional visit to his family in Litchfield, until the year succeeding the Wyoming Massacre, when he removed them to Plymouth. There he faithfully pursued his religious duties, holding meet- ings in Plymouth and other and distant parts of the county, dur- ing the remainder of his life. He died May 22, 1806.
Calvin Wadhams, son of Rev. Noah, was born December 22, 1765. He was one of the prominent business men of the county, and his success was remarkable. In frugality and industry, he was a genuine type of the men of his time, and his labor, econ-
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omy, and good judgment made up the rule of his long and pros- perous life. He was a religious man, whose charity and hospi- tality were all embracing. He married, February 10, 1791, Esther Waller, of Connecticut, and he died April 22, 1845, aged 80 years.
Samuel Wadhams, son of Calvin, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Plymouth, August 21, 1806. He inher- ited largely the energy, character, and views of his father; was a man of good business qualities, even tempered, and of friendly disposition. He married, April 7, 1824, Clorinda Starr Catlin, of New Marlboro, Mass., and he died, December 15, 1868, as he had lived, an upright and worthy Christian member of society.
The subject of this sketch graduated at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1854, exactly one hundred years after his great-grandfather graduated from the same institution. He studied law with Hon. L. D. Shoemaker, and was admitted to the bar April 6, 1857. He married, October 8, 1861, Fanny D. Lynde, a native of Wilkes-Barre, daughter of John W. Lynde, a native of Putney, Vt. Her maternal grandfather was Capt. Josiah Cleve- land, of Revolutionary memory. They have had four children, Mary Catlin, Lynde Henderson, Frank Cleveland, all of whom are now deceased, and Raymond Lynde, who was born September 25, 1872.
Mr. Wadhams is one of the oldest members of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, having been elected during the first year of its existence, on the 6th of September, 1858. He was chosen its Secretary in 1861, and served for eleven years, with the exception of two years, when he was Corresponding Secretary. At the annual meeting, February 11, 1873, he was elected President of the society, and served for one year, with efficiency.
Mr. Wadhams was one of the corporators and first managers of the Wilkes Barre Hospital, and took an active part in the direction which brought about its present success.
As a memorial to their deceased children, Calvin Wadhams and Fanny, his wife, erected Memorial Church, one of the prin- cipal church edifices in Wilkes-Barre, at a cost of $125,000. Their object in so doing is fully set forth in the following extract from the deed conveying the property :
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WHEREAS, Mary Catlin Wadhams, who was born July 20, 1862. and who died January 16, 1871; Lynde Henderson Wadhams, who was born April 8, 1864, and who died February 9, 1871; and Frank Cleveland Wadhams, who was born May 7, 1868, and who died January 14, 1871, were all children of Calvin Wadhams and Fanny D. L. Wadhams, and were taken away by death early in life, leaving their parents at the time childless. And the said Calvin Wadhams and Fanny D. L. Wadhams desiring to com- memorate the brief lives of their children, and feeling accountable as parents, not only for the influence exerted by their children while on earth, but for the perpetuation of good influences after they have gone to their reward, and anxious to do some act as representing the good works which they hoped of and from their children had the latter attained mature years, have erected in the city of Wilkes-Barre a church for the worship of Almighty God, intended as a house of prayer for all people.
And in connection therewith a congregation was gathered and a church organization duly effected, February 24, 1874, the membership numbering forty-two.
In the fall of 1870 Mr. Wadhams organized a Sunday-school in the upper part of town, which rapidly increased in member- ship, and at the organization of the church became attached thereto, he remaining Superintendent a number of years.
The work on the church was begun on Tuesday, May 21, 1872, and on Saturday, July 20, same year, the tonth anniversary of Mary Catlin Wadhams' birth, the corner-stone was laid with appropriate religious services. The motives actuating Mr. and Mrs. Wadhams in erecting this church are very clearly expressed in a paper which was read on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone.
These children were not permitted to live long enough to exert much influence for good in the world. We, therefore, desire to enlarge that influence by erecting this edifice for the worship of God. We feel that as our children can no more speak for Jesus here, they may have a representative to do it for them; and as they cannot go about doing good, the money that would have been theirs may be profitably spent in getting others to go about doing good for them.
The church was publicly dedicated to the worship of Almighty God April 8, 1874, the tenth anniversary of the birth of Lynde Henderson Wadhams. Mr. Wadhams formerly presented the
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church to the Board of Trustees, by whom it was accepted, sub- ject to the following conditions :
Ist. That the same shall be kept and maintained as a place for the worship of Almighty God agreeably to the principles of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in its doc- trines, ministry, forms, and usages. 2d. That the same shall be used only for religious purposes, and shall not be used for any secular purpose whatever. 3d. That said Memorial Church shall keep and maintain the buildings and premises in thorough order and repair. 4th. That the buildings and furniture be kept rea- sonably insured. 5th. That every tenth pew in the church edifice shall remain forever free, and shall not be liable to any charge or assessment for any purpose whatever. 6th. That the said Memorial Church, in case of the death or inability of the said grantors, shall keep in thorough order the lot in Hollenback Cemetery in which lie buried the said three children of the said Calvin Wadhams and Fanny D. L. Wadhams, his wife.
On May 7, 1874, the sixth anniversary of the birth of Frank Cleveland Wadhams, the first pastor was installed.
Many of Mr. Wadhams' relatives are and have been well and favorably known, some of them as occupants of important posi- tions in this and other parts of the country. Hon. E. C. Wad- hams, late State Senator for this district, is a brother; Hon. L. D. Shoemaker, ex-Congressman, a brother-in-law, and Sam F. Wad- hams, one of the young. members of the Luzerne bar, a nephew. The late Moses Wadhams, Esq., of this city, was also a brother. Rt. Rev. Edward Prindle Wadhams, Bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, is also a relative.
Mr. Wadhams had an attack of paralysis in May, 1882, from which he has never wholly recovered. Previous to that time he was an active business man and enterprising citizen, solicitous for the city's welfare, and never loth to contribute of his means and time and effort to advance its interests.
It is needless to add to the facts above detailed, that he is a man of most generous impulses. What he gave away for good purposes, out of the great charity of his heart, when he was wealthy, would have left him still so, had it been retained by him. He works now in his profession, not much as an advocate, but industriously as an office lawyer, seemingly not at all em- barrassed or hindered in any way by an eyesight so defective that
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JOHN RICHARDS.
it compels him almost to bury his head in the paper he is read- ing, or on which he is writing. He has many friends, and just enough enemies to affirm his possession of that quality of self- respect without which a man is not a man.
JOHN RICHARDS.
John Richards, of Pittston, is a native of Woodstock, Vermont, where he was born August 16, 1830. He is a descendant of Thomas Richards, a Puritan, as to whom almost nothing can be gathered from the available records but his name. The exact time of his birth, arrival, and death is uncertain. From the ages of his children, and the "advanced age" of his widow, in 1671, he is supposed, however, to have been born about 1600-5. His name does not occur on any record of Massachusetts or the Plymouth colony. This, considering the generally complete state of these records, makes it certain that he did not first settle at Cambridge, but might have tarried some years at Weymouth, and have afterwards joined Mr. Hooker, some of whose flock first settled at Weymouth, and subsequently at Cambridge. He was not of the one hundred original purchasers of Hartford, but one of the sixty-two original settlers to whom "were granted lotts, to have onely at the town's courtesie, with liberty to fetch woode, and keep swine or cowes on the common." The vote conferring the privilege passed February 10, 1639, when his wife was a widow. It was no doubt intended as a legal security to his heirs of what had been possessed by consent in his lifetime ; nor was it then an uncommon use of a representative name. He did not, probably, arrive at Hartford before 1637, and as he seems to have made no improvements, and as no use of his name in any record implies that he was alive even in 1638, he no doubt died soon after his arrival, and probably with those who fell, in 1637, in the Pequod wan
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John, son of Thomas, was born in 1631. He married Lydia Stocking, and settled on the homestead in Hartford, where he
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served as collector of a tax of £10, "appointed" by the town in 1655.
Thomas, Deacon, son of John, was born at Hartford in 1666. He settled in the old homestead in Hartford, and was styled "Mr." in 1701, and in 1693 was by a vote of the town allowed to set a shop, which he was building, three feet in the highway. In 1701 he was chosen lister and ratemaker and chimney-viewer for the south side of Little River, and in 1713 grand-juryman. He married October 1, 1691, Mary, daughter of Deacon Benjamin Parsons, of Springfield, and November 10, 1695, was with her received to full communion in the church at Hartford. He died April 9, 1749.
Thomas, son of Deacon Thomas, was born April 3, 1694, and June 16, 1717, married Abagail Turner, of Hartford. He resided in Southington, Conn., but probably died east of the line, in Wethersfield, Conn.
Samuel, M. D., son of Thomas, was born October 22, 1726, at Hartford. When he was but one year of age his parents removed from Hartford to Southington, where he was brought up on a farm, with only the most scanty opportunities for education. At the age of eighteen years he joined the expedition to Cape Breton, where, as a servant to a physician in the hospital estab- lished for New England troops, he had free access to medical books, and witnessed many operations and modes of treating dis- ease. After his return he continued his medical studies and observations, and eventually devoted himself to practice, and rose to eminence in the profession. In December, 1747, he married Lydia Buck, whose parents were from Scotland, where she was born in April, 1725. Dr. Richards died November 10, 1793.
Samuel, Deacon, son of Dr. Samuel, was born September 17, 1753, at Canaan, Conn. Of his youthful history nothing is remembered, but he is presumed, by some means, to having ob- tained uncommon advantages for education. During the Revo- lutionary war he served in the army as an ensign, was in several battles, and at West Point at the capture and execution of Andre. Before the close of the war he retired on half pay, and afterwards received a pension, and was a member of the Cincinnati. He settled in Farmington, Conn., as a merchant, where he held the
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office of post-master for thirty-one years, and did business as a merchant until near the time of his death, which came to him at the age of eighty-eight years. He often served in town offices, and repeatedly represented Farmington in the Legislature of the State, and was highly respected for his discernment, sound judg- ment, probity, and responsibility. He married April 22, 1782, Sarah Gridley, who died March 16, 1795, and his second wife, Sarah Wells, April 27, 1796. She was the daughter of Jonathan Wells, of Glastenbury, Conn., by his wife, Catharine Saltonstall, and the granddaughter of Thomas Wells, and the great-grand- daughter of Samuel Wells, and the great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Wells, the emigrant. Mrs. Richards' mother was the daughter of Roswell Saltonstall, of Branford, by his wife, Mary (Haynes) Lord, the daughter of John Haynes, A. M., of Hartford, and granddaughter of Rev. Joseph Haynes, A. M., of Hartford, and great-granddaughter of John Haynes, Governor of Massa- chusetts, 1635, and the first Governor of Connecticut, 1639. Roswell Saltonstall was the son of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, of New London, who was the son of Col. Nathaniel Saltonstall, of Haverhill, and grandson of Richard Saltonstall, of Ipswich, and great-grandson of Sir Richard Saltonstall, embassador from England to Holland. In a funeral sermon preached by President Lord, of Dartmouth College, on the occasion of the death of Rev. John Richards, D. D., the son of Samuel Richards, he used the following language: "His father was an officer of the Revo- lution, a good Christian, and an honest man. He was a deacon of the church, held responsible offices in the General and State Governments, and was a pattern of the civic and Christian virtues of the old school, which has now nearly passed away. An intel- ligent friend characterized him as the best specimen of the old Puritan stock of New England that he had known. He com- manded his children and his household after him to fear God." Deacon Richards' only daughter by his second wife was Cornelia, who married November 9, 1826, John Lord Butler, of Wilkes- Barre, Pa., grandson of Colonel Zebulon Butler. Her daughter Sarah is the wife of Hon. Stanley Woodward, of this city. Mr. Richards died at Wilkes-Barre, December 31, 1841.
Rev. John Richards, D. D., the father of the subject of our
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sketch, was the only son of Deacon Samuel by his second wife, Sarah Wells. He was born March 14, 1797, at Farmington. President Lord, in a discourse at his funeral, said: "At the age of seventeen, being then a clerk in the neighboring city of Hart- ford, and intended for mercantile pursuits, he came under the ministry of the venerable Dr. Strong. He was greatly instructed and moved by the preaching of that distinguished man. His mind became profoundly engaged upon the great doctrines of the gospel, and after many spiritual conflicts his heart was bowed to Christ. Then he returned to Farmington, resolved upon a differ- ent pursuit of life, and said with his characteristic, abrupt, and unstudied air, 'Father, I want to study and to preach the gospel.' 'T was said and done. He became, in due time, a student at Yale. During his junior year, being then more quickened in his religious feelings, he made profession of his faith. He grad- uated with honor in 1821 ; at the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass., in 1824; was then for one year an agent of the American Board of Foreign Missions; from 1827 to 1831 an honored pastor at Woodstock, Vt .; then till 1837 an associate editor of the Vermont Chronicle, and in 1841 was installed as pastor of the church at Dartmouth College." He married in June, 1828, Emily Cowles, the sister of Hon. Thos. Cowles, of Farmington. She was the daughter of Zenas Cowles, a merchant of Farming- ton, who was the son of Solomon, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Samuel, who was the son of John Coles, one of the seven original members of the church at Farmington at its foundation, October 13, 1652. Mr. Richards died March 29, 1859.
Mr. Richards, the subject of our sketch, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1851. He studied law at Hartford, Conn., with John Hooker and Hon. Joseph R. Hawley, and was admitted to the bar of Hartford county in 1853. His health failing, he went in the field with a corps of engineers, and remained for three years. In 1856 he removed to Pittston, and was employed by his rela- tives, John L. and Lord Butler, at their coal works in Pittston, and in 1857 was supercargo of the first boat of coal shipped at the opening of the extension of the North Branch Canal from Pittston to Elmira, N. Y. He then entered the office of A. T. McClintock,
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and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county April 5, 1858. He practiced law until 1863, when he became a private in Capt. Stanley Woodward's company of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He became sick, and was in the hospital at Chambersburg for some considerable time, and has never fully recovered.
In 1870 Mr. Richards resumed the practice of his profession, and ever since then has remained actively engaged thereat. He is not an eloquent speaker, and makes no pretensions to forensic excellence or elegance. He is, however, a patient and persever- ing reader and student, and a conscientious practitioner of the law, and is, therefore, always well equipped as a counsellor to advise clients safely and judiciously as to the best methods of enforcing their rights and defending their interests in the courts. Time was when only the great orators, the men of marvelous eloquence, who talked tears to the eyes of jurors and court loungers, were recognized as leaders in the profession of law, when, in fact, it was possible for but few others to achieve therein either distinction or a competence. The finished elocutionist, the sublime rhetorician, the lawyer who brings the bench and box willing worshippers to the shrine of his great eloquence, still walks head and shoulders, in the estimation of the on-looking general public, above his fellows at the bar, but there are now-a- days a class of practitioners, practically unknown to the past, whose quiet advice is the one thing golden, both to their clients and to themselves. These, by persistent research, familiarize themselves thoroughly with the letter and spirit of the common and the statute law, and with the practice of the courts, possess themselves of every detail, however insignificant, of their clients' cases, and, thus prepared, advise unerringly as to the course that will involve the least delay and bring the surest remedy. Every here and there in the older States are representatives of this class, whose voices are scarcely ever heard in a court room, whose names seldom find their way into the public print, yet who have amassed large fortunes in legitimate practice, and brought to speedy and successful arbitrament complicated issues, involving, perhaps, millions of capital and untold private and prized rights and interests. In the humbler ranks of this goodly contingent, John Richards occupies no unenviable place.
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His genealogy, above given, shows him to come of most ex- cellent stock, and it is but little to say that in both his busy professional career and private life he has done full honor to his ancestry and the name he inherited from them. He is of a most unassuming demeanor, yet an enjoyable companion, and, where his affections attach, a warm, even an enthusiastic, friend. It is the speech of all who know him that he is a good man, who has led a good and useful life, that in justice merits, when the mea- sure of his years shall have been fulfilled, a good and peaceful ending.
Mr. Richards has been for many years a member of the Pres- byterian Church, and is a Trustee of the same. He is a Director of the People's Bank of Pittston, and a member of the Borough Council of West Pittston.
Rosewell Welles, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne . county on the 27th of May, 1787, the date of the organization of the county, and who represented Luzerne county in the Legis- lature in 1797, 1798, 1802, 1804, 1805, and 1806, was a grand- uncle of Mr. Richards. He was also one of the Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in 1830, at Wilkes- Barre. Mr. Welles resided and owned the premises now owned by the estate of Washington Lee, deceased, at the corner of River and South streets. On this spot Jabez Sill resided, and there the marriage of his daughter to Col. Nathan Denison took place, which was said to have been the first marriage in the Wyoming settlement.
Mr. Richards was married January 22, 1873, to Susan B. Chadwick, daughter of George Chadwick, A. M., the son of Joseph and Mary (Parker) Chadwick, who was born at Bradford, Mass., October 5, 1802, and died at Boston November 11, 1843. He studied medicine with Dr. Rufus Longley, of Haverhill, Mass., Dr. Winslow Lewis, of Boston, Mass., and at Dartmouth Medical College, graduating M. D. in 1828. He began practice at Ipswich, Mass., removed to Chelsea, Mass., and thence to Boston, leaving practice and going into mercantile business. He married Susan Brewster, daughter of Benjamin Joseph Gilbert, of Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have a family of four children.
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