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 15
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Mr. Kulp is a man of very pronounced political convictions, and has frequently been a delegate to City, County, and State
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GEORGE BRUBAKER KULP.
Democratic Conventions. That he is a lawyer of no mean merit, the positions he has held, and the legal publications he has issued, amply attest. That he is one of his adopted city's most useful and enterprising citizens, has its proof in the record of his services in the School Board and in the City Council, much of the legis- lation of which latter body has been the creation of his genius and perseverance, though it was, perhaps, in obstructing and pre- venting the passage of mischievous ordinances, to the preparation and posibilities of which insufficient or purblind thought had been paid, that his services have been most valuable to the city. In this way he has saved the citizens many thousands of dollars in taxes, and the corporation many possibly costly law suits. In the care of the interests of the poor he has been especially zeal- ous, and while his blunt and straightforward manners, his con- tempt for that nice diplomacy which characterizes the conduct of many public men, sometimes awakens against him considerable antagonism, time and reflection is always certain to set him right in the eyes of the people, as his frequent re-election to the School Board and the Council in a ward politically opposed to him by a large majority conclusively prove. His success is the result of earnest purpose; determination which never flags; exactness and promptness in the transactions of business; a deep sympathy with others wants; a sacred regard for his word, and a faithful discharge of all obligations, with a settled purpose of right, which knows no such word as fail.
Mr. Kulp has never been an aspirant for official position for , mere profit, and yet there are few years of his life during which he has not been in office. The positions he has held have mostly been, however, those in which service has been given gratis to the public, and solely for the public's good. And in these posi- tions he has left the impress of his genius and his industry more markedly upon the record of this city, perhaps, than that of any other man.
Mr. Kulp has succeeded professionally and as a citizen far be- yond, perhaps, his own ambitious expectations, at the starting out-a fact due to his indomitable energy and his unswerving insistance, everywhere and upon all occasions, in behalf of his own rights and the rights of those he has been, from time to time,
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GEORGE BRUBAKER KULP.
called upon to represent. He is a tall man, broad shouldered, of conspicuously strong vitality, and not a few wish and believe him destined to many more years of great usefulness to his friends and the people generally.
The mother of George B. is Susanna B. Kulp, daughter of the late Samuel Breneiser, of Lancaster, Pa. She is still living, at the age of seventy-four years, and resides at Reading, Pa. He was the son of John Valentine Breneiser, who came to this country September 5, 1730, in the ship "Alexander and Ann," from Rotterdam. Her mother was Susanna, daughter of George Schwartz, of Reading, Pa. She died a few years ago, at the age of ninety-five. Mr. Schwartz was a native of Oley, Berks county, and kept a hotel at the corner of Seventh and Penn streets, Reading, Pa., for over forty years. He was born in 1750, and died in 1830.
On October 4, 1864, Mr. Kulp married Mary E. Stewart, eldest daughter of John Stewart, of Scranton, Pa. They have three children living, two sons and a daughter. The grandparents of Mr. Stewart came from Londondery, Ireland, shortly after the Revolutionary war, and settled in Dauphin county, Pa., at or near Harrisburg, where the grandparents of Mr. Stewart are buried. The grandfather's Christian name was also John. John Stewart, the second, was a child when his parents emigrated to America. In 1802 he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1823 to Pittston, where he died in 1829. He married in 1806 Jane Stuart, also of Londondery, who survived him many years. The father of Mrs. Kulp is a native of Philadelphia, where he was born in the year 1820. The mother of Mrs. Kulp is Elizabeth A. Stewart, a daughter of the late Ezra Williams, of Wilkes-Barre (now Plains) township, Luzerne county; Pennsylvania. He was a descendant of Robert Williams, of Roxbury, Mass., who emigrated to this country from England in 1637. Ezra's grandfather, Thaddeus Williams, moved to the Wyoming Valley from Connecticut at an early day. He was driven from the valley at the time of the Massacre in 1778, his house and barn was burned by the enemy, his cattle stolen, his harvest almost entirely destroyed- a spot here and there by chance only preserved. He afterwards returned and settled in Wilkes-Barre. In 1790 he was a resident
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GEORGE BRUBAKER KULP.
of Weston, Conn. He died April 11, 1796. His wife, Frances Williams, nee Case, of Hartford, Conn., died in August, 1815. Thomas Williams, son of Thaddeus, was born in Fairfield county, Conn., January 19, 1756. Fired by the love of liberty, partici- pating with the patriotic spirits of that day, who were indignant at the encroachments of England upon the rights of America, he was among the first that joined the standard of his country at Wyoming when the recruiting banner was unfurled by order of the Continental Congress. In the "Hazleton Travellers," written by Hon. Charles Miner, the historian of Wyoming, we find the following sketch of Thomas Williams: "It is not my purpose to follow the Wyoming troops through their several campaigns. Mr. Williams was with them in constant service till their final discharge, except when allowed to return on furlough (which was a frequent practice in the service), when a brother or friend took his place for a season. Thus at one time Mr. Williams' brother, Isaac, took his place for a month or two. The year of the Mas- sacre Isaac Williams and John Abbott were ambushed by the savages, and both murdered and scalped, near Mill Creek. Isaac was only eighteen when he fell. He was fearless and active, ardent and patriotic. It is impossible, even at this late day, to think of his melancholy fate without the most painful emotions. He fell in the bloom of youth, in the dream of a most promising manhood. But these were times of great trial and suffering. The deprivation of those nearest and dearest was a source of ordinary affliction. It was the common lot. In March, 1779, the spring after the battle, a large body of Indians came down on the Wyoming settlements. So broken were our people by that fatal invasion that they were few in number, weak and illy pre- pared for defense, although a body of troops was stationed in the valley for their protection. The savages were estimated to exceed four hundred men. They scattered abroad over the settlement, murdering, burning, taking prisoners, robbing houses, and driving away cattle. After doing much injury they concentrated their forces to make an attack on the fort in Wilkes-Barre, situated on the river bank (just in front of the present residence of Hon. Stanley Woodward). Thaddeus Williams, father of Thomas Williams, of whom I am now speaking, occupied a house not far
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GEORGE BRUBAKER KULP.
from where the late Judge Fell lived (near the corner of North- ampton and Washington streets), and who for many years kept a public house. The Indians deemed it important to take this house before the attack on the fort should be made, and a detach- ment of twenty or thirty was sent for that purpose. It happened that Sergeant Williams was then at home. His father was unwell in bed. 'A lad, a younger brother, of twelve or thirteen, was the only other male person with them, so that the task of defending the house fell entirely on Sergeant Williams. The odds were fear- fully against him, the chances of success or escape desperate, but the call of duty to defend his parents from the tender mercies of the savages was imperious. He had been out in the service, and was familiar with danger. Naturally brave, being young and ardent, he resolved to do his utmost, and he did his duty like a hero. There were three guns in the house, all charged. The lad was directed as he fired to reload the pieces as well as he could, which the little fellow faithfully did. The enemy rushed up to the door, but it was barricaded, so that they could not force it open. Sergeant Williams, aiming through the logs, fired, and one of the enemy fell, when they fled, with a hideous yell, drag- ging away the wounded Indian. But, rallying again, they rushed up, surrounded the house, and several found places through which to fire. The sick father received by a ball a severe wound in the side, but Sergeant Williams was not idle. He fired several times, is certain of bringing another down, and thinks a third, when the party again retreated. The next time they came on with brands of fire, and the fate of the beseiged seemed almost certainly sealed, but Mr. Williams getting sight of the savage who had the brand, took deliberate aim and fired. The savage fell, and his companions, dragging him away, with terrible yells, withdrew, and Williams was victorious. There is no doubt that the lives of his parents and the whole family were preserved by his courage and spirit. It was a glorious affair, and reflects on Mr. Williams the highest honor. How many he slew could not be known, as the Indians make it a point to carry off their dead, if possible. After the savages retired from Wyoming, Mr. Williams rejoined his company, and continued in the service till the close of the war. Thus, in the revolutionary contest, the
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father was wounded, a brother was slain, and Mr. Williams him- self served in the regular army for several years, besides defend- ing the house against so formidable an attack."
Thomas Williams married in 1782 Elizabeth Robertson, of Bethel, Conn. He lived at Danbury, Conn., until the spring of 1790, when he removed again to Wyoming, living until his death in the present township of Plains, rearing a family of six sons and four daughters, of whom Ezra was the third son. The fol- lowing obituary notice is from the Republican Farmer and Democratic, Journal of November 20, 1839: "Died, at his resi- dence in the township of Wilkes-Barre (now Plains), on November 12, 1839, Thomas Williams, one of the oldest and most respecta- ble inhabitants of the valley. The whole life of Mr. Williams has been an eminent example of industry, sobriety, usefulness, and patriotism, worthy to be followed by all. He bore an hon- orable part in the Revolutionary struggle, and to the end of his life has manifested a lively devotion to the cause of liberty, to which he devoted the prime of his days. He has reared a numerous and respectable family, who are justly esteemed for their intelligence and excellent moral character, and who on all occasions have shown an ardent zeal in support of the principles for which their father fought. He rests with his compatriots who have gone before him, whose memories are embalmed in the hearts of freemen."
Ezra Williams was a native of Luzerne county, where he was born September 24, 1791. He died September 21, 1844. He married in February, 1818, Mary Black, daughter of Henry Black, of Bucks county, Pa. The maiden name of Mrs. Black was Catharine Schattenger. Mrs. Williams was born February 27, 1792, and died July 10, 1869.
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THOMAS HART BENTON LEWIS.
THOMAS HART BENTON LEWIS.
Next in the order of seniority as a member of the Luzerne county bar to the subject of our last preceding sketch comes Thomas Hart Benton Lewis. Mr. Lewis is a native Luzerne countian, having been born in Trucksville, Kingston township, February 22, 1835. He is consequently at this writing consid- erably more than forty-eight years of age. His father is- James Rowley Lewis, a native of Petersburg, Rensselaer county, N. Y. He has practiced as a physician in this county over fifty-one years, and is now the oldest in years of our medical practitioners. His first wife was Janette Hess, of Schoharie, N. Y. He was a teacher in Schoharie county, N. Y., until he removed to Penn- sylvania over half a century ago. The mother of the subject of our sketch was Nancy, a daughter of Alexander Ferguson, who lived near Delaware Station, Warren county, N. J., where Mrs. Lewis was born, but who afterwards removed to Dallas, in this county, where he died. She was a lady of many virtues, and not a few mental endowments.
From such progenitors came one of the least pretentious, but one of the most painstaking and reliable attorneys on the roll of the courts of Luzerne. Mr. Lewis was prepared for college at Wyoming Seminary, in Kingston, where so many of our best and most successful citizens received their preliminary education. From here he entered the University at Lewisburg, from which he graduated with honors in the year 1858. His legal attainments were acquired in the office and under the tutelage of the late Charles Denison, than whom he could have had no more talented mentor. He was admitted to the bar August 22, 1860, soon achieving a creditable practice.
In the Centennial year Mr. Lewis, who had been a faithful fol- lower of the Democratic party during all its ups and downs, was chosen a member of the State Legislature, as a Democrat, although from the Republican Second district. In this position, both as a committeeman and on the floor of the chamber, he did
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THOMAS HART BENTON LEWIS.
his party and his constituents all that it was possible for one man to do, being a Democrat in a Republican body, and showed him- self possessed of many of the qualities and capacities of which statesmen are made. He has frequently been a member of the Town Council, and Secretary of that body, in our neighboring borough of Kingston, where he has long resided and still abides, and for whose advancement as a borough he has done signal service. He is at present a member of the School Board of that borough.
On May 17, 1865, he married Rosa M., a daughter of J. A. Atherton, of Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have a family of six children, three sons and three daughters, the oldest being a son, now seventeen years of age. .
Mr. Lewis is a leading Presbyterian, having been a ruling elder in the Kingston church of that denomination continuously since 1867, and was for five years superintendent of the Sabbath-school attached to the church.
Perhaps his most marked characteristic is his quietness of demeanor-his total lack of ostentation. He has, nevertheless, the quality of geniality, and to those who know him is always friendly and sociable. He is a pleasant companion, and, on those subjects which most interest him, a fluent and, at times, an ani- mated conversationalist. As a lawyer, he is studious, industrious, religiously faithful to a client, and generally successful with his cases. He figures but little in the Quarter Sessions, but in the Common Pleas has realized a considerable practice, while in what is called office practice he does a paying and successful business. He is a man of ordinary height, of average build, and in many respects prepossessing in appearance.
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GUSTAV HAHN.
GUSTAV HAHN.
Gustav Hahn was born near Stuttgart, in the Kingdom of Wirtemburg, now a part of the great German Empire, on the 23d of October, 1830. His primary education was acquired in the Lyceum at Reutlingen, from which he entered the University of Tubingen, where he graduated with honors. At the age of nine- teen, under the law of Germany, he entered the army, and was exceptionally fortunate in being in the service but two years, graduating therefrom after a full military course. Being animated by the desire of so many of his countrymen, he decided to emi- grate to a new land, and on September 22, 1854, reached the United States. Two months later he came to Wilkes-Barre, and immediately entered the printing office of Robert Baur, editor and proprietor of the Democratic Waechter, at that time the only German Democratic publication in this section of the country. He did chores for the office, served the paper to its comparatively numerous subscribers, and learned the art of type-setting, and subsequently came to be a writer for its columns of such conse- quence that what he wrote was feared by its enemies and vene- rated by its friends. In 1855 he entered the law office of ex-Judge E. L. Dana as a student of the law, and afterwards that of the present Additional Law Judge, Hon. Stanley Woodward, from which he was admitted to the bar, as a practitioner in the courts of Luzerne county, February 18, 1861. During most of this time, that is to say, from 1856 to 1860, Mr. Hahn was Professor of Modern Languages in Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, and for six months preceding his admission as a lawyer he was a clerk in the office of the Prothonotary of the county, where he acquired a knowledge of the forms and methods of practice in the Common Pleas that has been of rare value to him ever since.
The enticements of the law, or of education, did not suffice, however, to drown in Mr. Hahn the elements of patriotism to the country of his adoption, and on April 20, 1861, he enlisted in the Wyoming Jaegers, a noted military company in that day, which
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GUSTAV HAHN.
marched to the State Capital the morning following, when Mr. Hahn was elected Second Lieutenant of the company, which entered the service of Uncle Samdom as Co. G, Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. The company was sworn in for three months. During the Antietam and South Mountain campaign Mr. Hahn was Captain of Co. K, Nineteenth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, with which company he remained in command until they were, discharged, upon the retirement of the enemy. But for disability contracted in the army while in Germany, Mr. Hahn would have remained in the service. In 1864 he was ap- pointed a United States Commissioner, which office he still hon- orably retains.
Mr. Hahn married, December 7, 1861, Mehetabel A. Munson, a descendant of Richard Monson, or Munson, an early Puritan of New Hampshire. The family afterwards removed to New Haven, and from there to Wallingford, Conn. The greatgrand- father of Mrs. Hahn was Wilmot Munson, of Wallingford, where he was born July 23, 1755. He was the son of Obadiah Munson. Wilmot Munson was one of the earliest Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, and occupied a farin on the banks of the Susquehanna river below Port Blanchard, but returned to Connecticut before the Massacre in 1778. Walter Munson, Mrs. Hahn's grandfather, remained in Connecticut until he reached manhood. After his marriage with Mehetabel Trowbridge, he removed to Dutchess county, N. Y., and from there to Greene county, and thence to Luzerne county, in 1807. The father of Mrs. Hahn is Salmon Munson, who was born on the homestead of his father, in Franklin township, December 13, 1808, and where he still resides. The mother of Mrs. Hahn was Ruhamah Munson, nee Lewis, a native of Orange county, N. Y. Her father was Oliver Lewis. The late Revs. Oliver Lewis and George Lewis were her nephews, as are also Revs. Joshua S. Lewis and George C. Lewis, of the Wyoming Conference.
The Hahns are an old and distinguished German family, and the representative thereof, of whom we now write, is a bright and prosperous lawyer, besides being a popular citizen, who, as President of the Wilkes-Barre Saengerbund, and in other civic and military organizations, has earned a credit that cannot easily
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EDWIN SYLVANUS OSBORNE.
be overstated. He is a gentleman full of fun of a good-natured order, and nobody who thoroughly knows can dislike him.
EDWIN SYLVANUS OSBORNE.
Edwin Sylvanus Osborne was born in Bethany, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th day of August, 1839. He is a graduate of the University of Northern Pennsylvania, located in his native town, and of the National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1860. He is a descendant of John Osborne, who came from England, and settled in East Windsor, Connecticut, prior to May 19, 1645, and who married Ann Oldage. They had a son, Samuel, who married and had a son, Jacob, who married and had a son, Thomas, who married and had a son, Cooper, who married Hannah Oakley; they had a son, Sylvanus, who was the father of Edwin Sylvanus, the subject of our sketch. The father of Cooper Osborne was a soldier in the Continental army, and was killed at the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey. Hannah Oakley was the daughter of Ephraim Oakley, who married Susanna Raymond, and the granddaughter of Sylvanus Oakley, who was a man of wealth, and died possessed of large estates in New York City and New Jersey. Susanna Raymond was the sister of Col. Raymond, who served with distinction on the staff of Gen. Washington during the Revolutionary war. Ephrianı Oakley was also an officer in the Continental army. Cooper Osborne, who was a native of Litchfield county, Con- necticut, and Hannah Oakley, a native of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, were married in 1798, and settled in what is now Dyberry township, Wayne county, Pennsylvania. The country was then a wild forest. He bought some land, began a clearing, and built a log house. Here Sylvanus was born in September, 1812. Cooper died in 1818, leaving to survive him his widow, Hannah, and six children. They struggled along under the management of their widowed mother, who was a woman of great energy and
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EDWIN SYLVANUS OSBORNE.
determination of character, kept their home, and equipped them- selves for the active duties of life. She died in 1856, where she had lived long enough to see the wilderness subdued into culti- vated fields, mourned by her kindred and beloved by all who knew her.
In 1836 Sylvanus Osborne married Lucy, a daughter of Cyrus Messenger, of Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, who descended from Henry Messenger and his wife, Sarah, who resided in Boston prior to the year 1640. Henry was born in 1618 in England. He was the first known proprietor of the land on which now stands the building owned and occupied by the Massachusetts Historical Society and a part of that now covered by the Boston Museum. He was by trade a joiner, and died in 1681. He had a son, Thomas, born March 22, 1661, who mar- ried Elizabeth Mellows. They had a son, Ebenezer, born in Boston, Mass., June 2, 1697, who married, first, Rebecca Sweetser, resided in Boston, afterwards in Wrentham, Mass. He married, second, Hannah Metcalf. He died June 9, 1768. By first wife had a son, Wigglesworth, born December 16, 1743, and died November 26, 1818. He (Wigglesworth) married Jemima Everett, of Wrentham, who was the sister of Rev. Oliver Everett, father of Hon. Edward Everett, long and favorably known to the American people. They had a son, Cyrus, born October 26, 1776, and died April 26, 1858. He was the father of Lucy (the mother of the subject of our sketch), who was born October 27, 1816, and died December 21, 1844.
Gen. Osborne read law in the office of Hon. Charles Denison, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county on the 26th of February, 1861.
In April, 1861, when the late civil war broke out, he enlisted as a private in Company C, Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, and served in the campaign of 1861 with Gen. Patterson's division. The late Gen. Wm. Brisbane, of this city, was Captain, and among the privates were A. M. Bailey, Hon. D. L. Rhone, E. H. Chase, J. B. Conyngham, Lyman R. Nicholson, and Joseph Wright, members of the bar of Luzerne county. Lieut. Nichol- son was subsequently killed at the battle of Gettysburg, and Capt. Wright and Lieut. Col. Conyngham died from disease contracted
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EDWIN SYLVANUS OSBORNE.
in the service. Subsequently Gen. Osborne was authorized by Governor Curtin to recruit a company, and was mustered in as Captain, to rank from August 22, 1862. His regiment was assigned to the First Corps, Army of the Potomac. From September, 1862, until February, 1863, he served upon the staff of Gen. Wadsworth. In February, 1863, at his own request, he was returned to his regiment, and served with it until August, 1863, when he was again detailed for staff duty, and appointed Assistant Inspector General. He remained with the First Corps until it was consolidated with the Fifth Corps, when he was assigned to duty with the First Division of that corps; remained with this division until September, 1864, when he was transferred to the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, and remained with this command until the close of the war. He participated with the Army of the Potomac in all the battles in which that army was engaged after he joined it. He was on several occasions highly complimented in orders for gallant conduct and skillful handling of troops in the face of the enemy. He was commissioned Major of his regiment, was three times breveted for meritorious conduct, and shortly after the surrender of Lee was appointed a Judge Advocate, with the rank of Major, in the regular army. While Judge Advocate he was detailed by the Secretary of War on several important missions, among which was to investigate the charges preferred against citizens of Pennsylvania, held by mili- tary authority, and report to the Secretary of War what action, according to the law and evidence, would be proper in each case. Through his recommendation those so held were set at liberty, or turned over to the civil authorities. He was also sent by the War Department to Macon, Andersonville, and other points in the South to investigate and report upon the treatment given Union soldiers while held as prisoners of war by the South. This investigation led to the arrest and trial of Capt. Wertz, of Andersonville. The charges preferred by the United States Government against Wertz were drawn by him, and he prepared the case for trial. After performing this duty he offered his resignation, which, after some hesitation, was accepted by the Secretary of War, and he returned to Wilkes-Barre and resumed the practice of law.
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