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 29
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ISAAC PLATT HAND.
Isaac Platt Hand was born in Berwick, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1843. He is a descendant of John Hand, an early puritan from Maidstone, county of Kent, England, who was one of a party that left Maidstone in 1648. On landing, they first went to Lynn, Massachusetts, but, not liking that region, they sent a delegation to the east end of Long Island, then in possession of the Shinnecock Indians, to view the land.
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Their report was favorable. Through the governors of the Hartford and New Haven settlements, they purchased from the Indians the town of Easthampton, Long Island, for about thirty pounds, which was paid in blankets, powder and shot, cloth, etc. They soon organized a government, by the election of selectmen and the adoption of a code of laws. They divided up a portion of the land, giving to each family a small farm and town lot, upon which houses were built. They also provided at once for the support of a pastor and the establishment of schools. In all this John Hand was one of the leading spirits. His name stands first on the documents which relate to the purchase from the Indians, and on the list of the first body of selectmen. The records show that, in 1657, John Hand, John Mulford, and Thomas Barber were the men before whom legal proceedings were conducted. Irenaus, in the New York Observer of August 21, 1884, thus describes Easthampton of to-day : " No village in the state of New York has undergone less change by the influ - ence of modern improvement than Easthampton. Its one broad street, its wind mills, its geese and its graveyard, its antique, quaint and peculiar residences hold their own without fear or shame. IIundreds of city people find rest and delight in its cool, sequestered shades during the heats of summer, and seek the gently sloping beach for grateful bathing in the surf. The house in which 'Home, Sweet Home' was composed is still pointed out to inquiring strangers ; indeed, two are rivals for the honor, and you take your choice. Artists have made sketches of the picturesque interiors and exteriors of the old habitations that remain as specimens of what was elegant in its day, and magazines have been adorned with the illustrations. Repose is the genius of the place. Nothing is in haste. Not a minute faster does time go now than it did ten years ago when I was here, and, having need to use the telegraph, found the office closed, with a notice that the operator had gone crabbing. Now I went to the barber's, and a notice on the shop door informed customers that he was in town every other day. It is very rest- ful to be in such a place. No rude alarm disturbs the quiet of this venerable retreat. It never yet has heard that most unearthly of all earthly sounds, the railroad shriek. The clear, sweet bugle
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blast announces the coming of the post coach, also the peripatetic vendor of clams. Rarely does the inhabitant say, 'I am sick.' Health, peace, content, and comfort dwell here from age to age, the same in substance as it was in the beginning. The forefathers of the hamlet sleep in the country churchyard, successive genera- tions lie by their side, all waiting, with their first pastor, for the last trump to 'break up old marble' and call them to the grand assize." John Hand died in 1660. He had a son, John, who had a son, John, who had a son, Aaron, who was the grandfather of the subject of our sketch. He was an elder for years in the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Albany, N. Y. He was married to Tamar Platt at Kingsbury, N. Y., August 17, 1794. He died at Albany, N. Y., October 27, 1832, aged fifty-nine years. His wife died at Greenwich, N. J., January 16, 1854, aged eighty-one years. The father of Isaac P. Hand was Rev. Aaron Hicks Hand, D. D., who was a son of Aaron and Tamar (nce Platt) Hand. He was born in Albany, N. Y., December 3, 1811, and died March 3, 1880. He was a graduate of Williams college, Mass., in the class of 1831. He entered Princeton seminary, N. J., as a student of theology, from which he graduated in 1837, and was licensed as a minister by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. J., April 25, 1837, soon after which he went on account of his health to Georgia, where he supplied the churches of Roswell and Marietta from 1838 to 1841. He was ordained by the Presby- tery of Flint River, Georgia, April 11, 1841, after which time he returned to the north, and supplied the church at Berwick, Pa., from 1842 to 1845. As pastor of the church at Greenwich, Warren county, N. J., from September 2, 1851, until November 2, 1870, he labored most efficiently and successfully. He was installed over the church at Palisades-on-the-Hudson, June 14, 1871, and continued in charge of it until released, September 16, 1879, in consequence of increasing infirmities. He then removed with his family to Easton, Pa., where he spent his last days. Doctor Hand was an earnest and faithful minister of the gospel. He was a diligent student, and a writer of force and intelligence. For many years he was a trustee of Lafayette college, and from it received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The wife of Rev. A. H. Hand was Elizabeth, youngest child of Captain John L.
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Boswell, of Norwich, Conn. Her father's family, for generations, had been physicians ; and her grandfather, Dr. Lemuel Boswell, of Norwich, intended that his son John should follow the calling of his ancestors, but the youth could ill brook the restraints and self-denials of the profession, and took the matter into his own hands by going to sea at an early age. He rose from one posi- tion to another until he became captain, at the age of twenty, of the ship " Sally," concerning which we find the following notice in " The History of Norwich," by Miss Caulkins: " Probably the highest duty ever paid by Norwich merchants on a single cargo was in October, 1798, when the ship Sally, John L. Bos- well, entering from St. Domingo, was charged at the custom house $12,121." In one of his voyages Captain Boswell's vessel was chased by pirates, overtaken, and boarded, but the crew were finally victorious. The villainous-looking cimeter now in the possession of a grandson of Captain John is a reminder of the days when those jolly sea-robbers made things lively "as they sailed " o'er the Spanish main. Having secured what was for those days a considerable fortune, he gave up a sea-faring life, and married, at about the age of thirty, Miss Hetty Coit. The remainder of Captain Boswell's life was spent in his native town, where he died in 1842, a respected and honored citizen. Miss Hetty Coit was the lineal descendant of Deacon Thomas Adgate, one of the original proprietors and settlers of Norwich in 1659.
Amos Richardson must have come to New England before 1640. We find him in Boston as early as 1645, but he was doubtless there several years before. He is described as a " merchant tailor," and was a man of great respectability and of a good estate. After the departure of Stephen Winthrop, the governor's son, for England in 1641, he was agent for him in New England, as he afterwards was for his brother John, the first governor of Connecticut after the charter. With Dean Winthrop and others he was one of the original grantees of Groton, Conn., though he never went there to live. He was made freeman in 1665, and removed to Stonington, Conn., in 1666, of which town he was a representative in 1676 and 1677. He was a man of strong convictions and of determined energy .and will, with a good deal of original talent, kind-hearted, but
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never submitted to a wrong without an effort for the right. He died at Stonington August 5, 1683. Stephen Richardson, third son of Amos Richardson, was born in Boston June 14, 1652. He was a man of character and influence; lived and died in Stonington, Conn. Amos Richardson, second son of Stephen Richardson, was born in 1681. He settled in Coventry, Conn. Nathan Richardson, eldest son of Amos Richardson, was born March 20, 1725. Nathan Richardson, fifth son of Nathan Richardson, was born at Coventry, Conn., October 27, 1760, and removed to Manchester, Vermont, about 1780, and from thence to near Burlington, Chittenden county, Vermont, where he soon after died. He was an upright Christian man. William P. Richardson, son of Nathan Richardson, was born at Manchester, Vermont, July 22, 1784. In his early childhood he developed more than an ordinary aptness to learn, and excelled as a reader. During the whole period of his life, few men in his position were oftener called upon to read in public. In the Congregational church, of which he was a member, regular service at that time was always kept up on the Sabbath in the absence of the minis- ter. On such occasions-and they occurred hundreds of times during his life-time-Mr. Richardson was invariably called upon by one of the deacons to conduct the service, and to stand in the pulpit and read a sermon to the congregation. For weeks, and sometimes months, he served in this way the church in the absence of the pastor. He studied theology under the instruction of the .Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury (the grandfather of E. P. Kings- bury, of Scranton), pastor of the Congregational church, Jericho Centre, Vermont. On account of the protracted sickness of his mother, who required his constant care, he was compelled to relinquish all thought of the clerical profession. Mr. Richardson married September 7, 1807, Laura, daughter of Captain John Lyman. He was an old school Jeffersonian democrat, an ardent supporter of Madison and Monroe's administrations, and a decided advocate of the war of 1812. He enlisted as a volunteer, and was an officer of his company, which was ordered to Plattsburg a short time before the battle. After the close of the war he purchased a farm near Jericho Centre, directing his attention to agricultural life. He was for many years a justice of the peace,
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often a member of the board of selectmen, and represented Chit- tenden county in the legislature of the state in 1821, 1822, and 1824. He wrote the early history of Jericho township, which was published in Thompson's Gazetteer of the state. He early became interested in the cause of education, and secured the establishment of a good academical school in his township; and was president of the first organized temperance society in his town. When more than eighty years of age, he removed, with his wife, to Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y., spending the remainder of their days with their son-in-law, Edward Converse. Mr. Richardson, the father of J. L. Richardson, died February 28, 1871.
J. L. Richardson, the father of Mrs. I. P. Hand, was born near Jericho Centre, Chittenden county, Vermont, September 15, 1816. The county was named after one of the first and most renowned governors of the state, the county in which Colonel Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, lived and died, the native county of Senator Edmunds, the native county of Doctor Higbee, superintendent of public instruction in Pennsylvania, and the first public school which Mr. Richardson attended was soon after taught by the father of President Arthur. His first term in the academy of his native town found him a schoolmate of Judge Poland, now and for many years a member of congress from Vermont. At the age of nineteen, Mr. Richardson taught his first school, near his native town, and soon after entered Burr seminary, at Manchester, Vermont, then under the principalship of his relative, Rev. Lyman Coleman, D. D., subsequently professor of ancient and modern history in Lafayette college, teaching winters, however, during the four years of his connection with the semin- ary. He left Manchester in 1842 on a visit to his sister Hannah, who, with her husband, John G. K. Truair, had charge of the Gilbertsville academy and collegiate institute at Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y. He spent a year at this place, teaching in the academy, and during one term was associated with the late Rev. Reuben Nelson, D. D., who was a teacher of languages in the same institution. Mr. Richardson came to Luzerne county in 1843, and taught school for several years. In the fall of 1855, while he was principal of Madison academy, at Waverly, Pa., he
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was commissioned by Andrew G. Curtin, then secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction, as superintendent of the schools of Luzerne county. The act authorizing a superintendent was passed in 1854, and the late Rev. J. W. Lescher was the first superintendent, but he resigned shortly after the act went into effect. Mr. Richardson's first act as superintendent was to issue the following circular :
" Fellow Teachers : As you are about to enter upon the arduous and important duty of training the youthful mind, it can hardly be necessary to remind you of the responsibility attendant upon the positions you are to occupy. At least for a brief period, the moral and intellectual training of far the larger portion of the children and youth of Luzerne county will devolve upon you. Around the faithful teacher clusters a moral grandeur which no other profession can claim. You are to act directly upon the human mind, just at that period of its existence when impressions are the most lasting, and when its direction is the most easily given. With this view of the subject, parents are about to sur- render to your guidance and care the most precious gifts which heaven has bestowed upon them. Remember their deep anxiety as they watch the mental and moral development of their child- ren while under your instruction and supervision. Remember 'that, just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.' You are to do an important part of the work in preparing those under your charge for the practical duties of life. The great moral and political machinery of the state will soon be propelled by those who are now young. Be careful, then, how you deal with the future jewels of our country. Cultivate in them a love of study and correct thought; impress upon their young minds the prin- ciples of moral right as the only sure basis of their future useful- ness. We are acquainted with many of the difficulties which will attend your efforts. Many of you will be without proper apparatus for your school-rooms, without a uniformity of text- books, located in miserable houses, entirely unfit for the noble design of education. But be of good cheer, for we believe a better day is coming. School directors are beginning to act in the right direction. The citizens of our thriving villages are beginning to feel uneasy when they view their splendid churches
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and their magnificent hotels, etc., in contrast with their small, dingy, gloomy school-houses. The contrast is producing un- pleasant sensations of mind, and shows a want of propriety, har- mony, and consistency. But we are rejoiced to know, that, in several places, efforts are in progress to leave these miserable school buildings to the moles and bats, and in their places erect others better fitted for the education of those of whom it was said, 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' If you find your school-rooms not furnished with black board surface, maps, charts, etc., urge the directors to provide them for you. If school boards see that you are anxious by any means in your power to secure the improvement of your pupils, they will not be backward in assisting you. It will become my duty to visit your schools during the winter-a duty I intend without fail to perform. We shall note the progress your schools are making, and your own tact and skill as teachers. I would suggest that you procure and read Page's Theory and Practice of Teaching, take the Pennsylvania School Journal, and you will be more likely to succeed in your profession. Keep a faithful report of the attendance, progress, and deportment of your pupils. Organize so far as you can town teachers' associations for mutual improve- ment in the art of teaching, and be assured of my willingness to co-operate with you in efforts to elevate the common schools of our county.
" J. L. RICHARDSON,
"County Superintendent."
Mr. Richardson did much to improve the efficiency of our schools, and as the office of county superintendent was very much opposed by a large number of our people at the first, he did much to elevate the office and gain for it the commendation of the people. He held the position for five years, and then voluntarily retired. He was succeeded in the office by Rev. Abel Marcy. The Richardsons are a race of teachers. They are found everywhere scattered throughout the country, in our colleges, seminaries, public schools, and in every department of scholastic labor. Of the brothers and sisters of Mr. Richard- son, Betsy, Nathan, and Martin L. taught in Vermont; Mrs. Edward Converse taught in Lackawanna county more than thirty years ago; Mrs. J. G. K. Truair had charge of the
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ladies' department in the Gilbertsville academy and collegiate institute ; Mrs. Emily Hillhouse taught an academical school in Columbus, Ohio ; and Simeon L. taught in Minnesota. Thus, out of a family of ten children that grew up to manhood, eight were teachers. It is a fact worthy of note, that, during a portion of the time that J. L. Richardson was county superintendent of Luzerne county, Rev. Willard Richardson was county superin- tendent of Susquehanna county, and Judson Richardson was county superintendent of Sullivan county. Mr. Richardson was for six years an agent of the New York American Missionary Association, and as such addressed thousands of his countrymen in favor of the newly-created citizens of African descent. His first year's residence in that capacity was in St. Louis, Mo., devot- ing his time to the organization of schools and employing teachers for them. He visited the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and raised thousands of dollars for his work among the freedmen. He is a pioneer anti-slavery man, and cast his vote for James G. Birney, John P. Hale, and other anti-slavery leaders. At the age of fourteen, he signed the pledge at a temperance meeting, of which his father was president, and he has never drank a glass of wine in his life. In two presidential campaigns, he was employed by the state committee of the temperance organization to canvass for votes, and to do all in his power to build up the cause. He has also been agent and solicitor for the Tunkhannock Republican, a temperance paper, and also for the Scranton City Journal. In 1879 he retired to a farm in Cooper township, near Danville, Montour county, Pa., where he now resides. He married June 19, 1846, Catharine Heermans, at that time living in Hyde Park (now Scranton), Pennsylvania. She was a sister of Edmunds and John Heermans, and niece of the late Joseph Fellows.
Richard Lyman, the patriarch of all the Lymans of English descent in America, was born in High Ongar, Essex county, England, and was baptized October 30, 1580. The date of his birth is not known. He married Sarah Osborne, of Halstead, in Kent. She went to America with her husband and all their children, and died in Hartford, Conn., about the year 1640, soon after the death of her husband. Mr. Lyman embarked about the
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middle of August, 1631, with his wife and children, in the ship " Lion," for New England, taking their departure from the port of Bristol. There went in the same ship Martha Winthrop, the third wife of John Winthrop, at that time governor of New Eng- land, the governor's eldest son and his wife and their children, also, Eliot, the celebrated apostle of the Massachusetts Indians. The ship made anchor before Boston on November 2, 1631. Richard Lyman first became a settler in Charlestown, Mass., and, with his wife, united with the church in what is now called Roxbury, under the pastoral care of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. He became a freeman at the General Court June II, 1635, and on October 15, 1635, he took his departure with his family from Charlestown, joining a party' of about one hundred persons, who went through the wilderness from Massachusetts into Connecticut, the object being to form settlements at Wind- sor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. He was one of the first settlers at Hartford. The journey from Massachusetts was made in · about fourteen days' time, the distance being more than one hundred miles, and through a trackless wilderness. They had no guide but their compass, and made their way over mountains, through swamps, thickets, and rivers, which were not passable but with the greatest difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those which simple nature afforded them. They drove with them one hundred and sixty head of cattle, and, by the way, subsisted in a great measure on the milk of their cows. The people carried their packs, arms, and some utensils. This adventure was the more remarkable as many of this company were persons of figure who had lived in England in honor, affluence and delicacy, and were entire strangers to fatigue and danger. Richard Lyman, on this journey, suffered greatly in the loss of cattle. He was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, and there is little doubt that he and his wife formed a connection with the first church in Hartford, of which the Rev. Thomas Hooker was pastor. His will, the first on record at Hartford, is dated April 22, 1640, and is the first in the valu- able collection of Trumbull, and stands Record I., p. 442, fol- lowed by an inventory of his estate. He died in August, 1640, and his name is inscribed on a stone column in the rear of the
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Centre church, of Hartford, erected in memory of the first settlers of the city. His wife, Sarah, died soon afterwards. Richard Lyman is reported to have began life in the new world as a man of " considerable estate, keeping two servants."
John Lyman, known as Lieutenant Lyman, born in High Ongar, September, 1623, came to New England with his father. He married Dorcas, daughter of John Plumb, of Branford, Conn. He settled in Northampton, Mass., where he resided until his death, August 20, 1690. Lieutenant John Lyman was in com- mand of the Northampton soldiers in the famous Falls fight, above Deerfield, May 18, 1676. Moses Lyman, son of Lieutenant John Lyman, was born in Northampton, Mass., February 20, 1623, and died February 25, 1701. Captain Moses Lyman, the only son of Moses Lyman, was born February 27, 1689, and died March 24, 1762. He married Mindwell Sheldon, December 13, 1712. Simeon Lyman, son of Captain Moses Lyman, was born in 1725 in Northampton, Mass., settled in Salisbury, Conn., and joined the church in that place in 1740 by letter from the church in Northampton. He married Abigail Beebe, of Canaan, Conn., and both died in Salisbury in the year 1800. John Lyman, son of Simeon Lyman, of Salisbury, Conn., was born March 1I, 1760. He married Huldah Brinsmade, of Stratford, Conn. He emigrated to Jericho, Vermont, soon after the Re- volutionary war, among the first settlers of the state. He was a man of deep thought, sound judgment, and an earnest Christian. As a bold and fearless soldier and sure marksman, he served faithfully his country in the war of the Revolution. He died in 1840. Laura Lyman was born November 10, 1789, and married September 7, 1807, William P. Richardson. She died at Butter- nuts, Otsego county, N. Y., February 28, 1869.
In an address delivered by Hon. Lyman Tremain, a descendant of Richard Lyman through Simeon Lyman, at a reunion of the Lyman family, he uses this language : " How mighty and mar- velous are the physical, moral, and political changes that have been wrought in the condition of our country since Richard Lyman first entered the valley of the Connecticut. These can only be briefly sketched on this occasion. Eleven years before he landed at Boston, the pilgrims had planted their footsteps
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upon the rock at Plymouth, and laid broad and deep the found- ations of free religious worship and republican liberty. Two years before, King Charles the First had granted the charter incorporating ' The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.' One year before, John Winthrop had been chosen governor of Massachusetts, and had emigrated to the colony, leaving his wife in England to follow him when her health would allow. * These feeble colonists have become a mighty nation.
Where stood those primeval forests now stand populous cities, flourishing towns and villages, and smiling farms and farm houses, while the journey that then required fourteen days for its accomplishment is now made by the iron horse several times every day."
Isaac Platt Hand was prepared for college at Gayley's prepara- tory school, at Media, Pa., after which time he entered Lafayette college, from which he graduated in 1865. From June 30, 1863, to August, 7, 1863, during the late war, he was a member of Company D, Thirty-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers. From 1865 to 1867 he was principal of the Hyde Park (Scranton) public schools. He was clerk of the City Council of Scranton from 1868 to 1870. Mr. Hand read law with the firm of Hand and Post, at Scranton, and practiced there until December, 1870, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre. He was admitted a member of the Luzerne county bar November 15, 1869, and for six years was the junior member of the firm of Wright (C. E.) & Hand. Mr. Hand was elected in 1880 a member of the school board of the Third district of this city, and in 1883 was re-elected without opposition. He is now secretary of the board, and has been its presiding officer. For the past four years he has been the secre- tary and treasurer of the Wilkes-Barre academy, and during the past year one of the trustees of the Wilkes-Barre female institute. He is also grand commander for Pennsylvania of the American Legion of Honor. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is prominent in republican political circles. He was chair- man of the republican city committee for four years, and in 1880 was chairman of the republican county committee, but has never been a candidate for any political office. Hon. Alfred Hand, additional law judge of Lackawanna county, is his cousin.
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