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 35
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leaving the vessel a great upheaving of the waters in the bay
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commenced, and the Fredonia, parting her chains, was tossed about at the mercy of the sea, and was finally dashed to pieces on a reef. Nothing of the vessel was saved. Her officers and crew, twenty-seven in number, were lost; also Mrs. Dyer, wife of the lieutenant commanding. The officers were: Lieutenant B. Dyer; D. Organ, master: J. G. Cromwell, purser; and S. Lunt, secretary to the commander. The Wateree was more se- curely anchored, but dragged her anchor, and the great tidal wave swept her four hundred and fifty yards inland, about two miles north of the ruined town, where she laid across a hillock of land very slightly injured. Only one sailor was washed over- board (and it was said his life was saved). Lieutenant Johnson, of the Wateree, was ashore at the time, and while carrying his wife in his arms to some place of safety, she was struck by a portion of a falling building and instantly killed. The Peruvian corvette America shared the same fate as the Wateree, but lost three officers and sixty men. Cominander Gillis, of the Wateree. after the disaster, together with Dr. Winslow and Dr. Dubois, of the Fredonia, were of great service to the inhabitants, dividing their provisions among the suffering people and saving many lives. The American merchantman Rosa Rivera, the English ship Chancellor (with eight men), and the French bark Eduado were lost."
Two days after the event Mr. Powell wrote home the following letter, which was published at the time in the Yates County Chronicle, of Penn Yan, N. Y. :
U. S. STEAMER WATEREE, ARICA, August 15, 1868. My very dear parents, sisters, brother, and friends :
We are alive and well. God has kindly and wonderfully pre- served us. Thanks, thanks, thanks, to our kind Heavenly Father. Have you read the news? On the night of the thir- teenth this place was visited with an awful earthquake. The city is entirely destroyed. The Wateree is high and dry on shore, about an eighth of a mile from the sea. Near us are the wrecks of the America (Peruvian man-of war), and an English bark. The Fredonia, our storeship, was utterly destroyed, and not a sign is visible of a large bark which was anchored near us. The loss of life has been great, both ashore and aboard ships, but we have miraculously escaped with the loss of one man, who was in a small boat. Just after we had finished dinner, a little after five o'clock P. M., we felt a fearful shock, which sent us all to the deck, whence we saw the most frightful sight I ever beheld. The earth was shaking like a leaf, and the buildings in Arica crumbling to the ground as if they were made of so much sand.
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The shock lasted between four and five minutes (an age), and at its close most of the town was in ruins. Then, after a few min- utes, came the sea rushing in over the wharf, up the streets, utterly destroying those buildings in the lower part of the town that still stood. The current went past us at the rate of seven or eight knots per hour. We let go our second anchor, and, as both dragged, payed out chain. After running in about five minutes the tide changed, and out we went as far as the chains would let us, and the water receded so far as to almost leave us aground. But what use of trying to describe it. I never can, much less now, while the excitement is still so great. Two hours of most imminent danger, followed by a night of suspense ; shock after shock of earthquakes, sea after sea rushing in and receding, ships almost colliding with us and then disappear- ing, darkness upon us, till finally both of our anchors were carried away and we were at the mercy of the waves. About half-past seven we struck where we now are, and from that time the sea began to abate. Was I frightened ? At the earth- quake itself, no; though I felt as I never did before; but for about ten minutes after the first sea came in I was exceedingly alarmed; after that I was perfectly cool-whistled, talked cheer- fully to all, and lung on. I gave up nearly all hope, thought we must all be destroyed, and stood expecting to see the vessel go to pieces. When the shock came on we were all on board ship, except Lieutenant-Commander Johnson, who was on shore with his wife. Poor Mrs. Johnson! They were living in the second story of about the only house which is now standing, but, like every one else, they ran into the streets, and while her arm was around her husband's neck, a door-casing fell, struck her, and killed her immediately. Mr. Johnson escaped, and finally succeeded in getting her body. Yesterday I was watching with poor Mr. J. till late in the day, when we succeeded in getting a coffin made, and buried her. I had to read the funeral service, and we buried her as much like a Christian as we could. It was an awful day for me; almost as bad, though free from danger, as the night before. The captain of the Fredonia was on shore, and her doctor and paymaster went ashore before the rushing in of the sea, but all the rest on board, except two men, were lost. Three officers-one with his wife-and over thirty men went down with the ship. The last we saw of the Fredonia that night she was all right, but yesterday morning nothing was visible except a piece of her hull with two men clinging to it. The America lost her captain, three other officers, and most of her crew, besides many badly hurt. She is a sad sight. How did we escape ? God alone knows. He saved us. It seems provi-
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dential that this vessel and not another was here, for not another on the coast could have escaped as we did. The Wateree draws very little water, and her bottom is very flat, so that it is almost impossible to capsize her, and she ran upon the shore with hardly a jar. Here, too, the shore is low and soft ; but if we had been driven the other side of the city all would have been lost. Some of the waves which came into the bay and town were at least thirty or thirty-five feet high. They rushed up over the first story of the custom-house. The people here are all ruined and very many have been killed and wounded. We are about four miles north of the town. We don't apprehend any further trouble, but shall be prepared for anything. Last night all of us, except a few left to guard the ship, camped at the foot of a high hill about three miles inland. The people are living on the sidehills, and some are going inland. We have heard from Tacna. There they lost few lives, though many buildings were destroyed. Several towns north of here are completely destroyed. What are we to do? Stay here for the present and look out for things. To-morrow the mail steamer is due going north, and we shall send word to the admiral at Callao, and expect him here in about a week. Farther than this no one can say. I don't think the government will ever launch the vessel, as it would cost more here than she is worth. Of course we shall not go to Frisco very soon. I will let you know the news by every opportunity. Try not to worry. The Almighty hand will protect us. We have plenty of provisions, and there is water near.
GEORGE K. POWELL.
After the Wateree was driven ashore the officers and crew lived in tents made of sails for ten days, until the arrival of the flag ship Powhatan, which took most of the officers to Callao, and thence most were ordered home by mail steamship and the Isthmus of Panama. Mr. Powell was in the navy about a year and a half. He then returned home and subsequently taught school for a year at Painted Post, N. Y. He was for three months the principal teacher in the house of refuge at Roches- ter, N. Y. In 1870 he came to Scranton, Pa., and entered the law office of Willard & Royce, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county June 12, 1871. He had previously read .law under his uncle, Henry M. Stewart, at Penn Yan, and was ad- mitted to the Supreme Court of the state of New York, January 5, 1871. After Mr. Powell's admission to the Luzerne county bar, and marriage, he removed to the borough of Kingston,
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where he resided until the present year, when he removed to this city. He was for two years while at Kingston superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school of that place. He also filled the positions of trustee, steward, and other offices in the church of his choice. He is a republican in politics, but has never filled, or been an aspirant for, any political office. Mr. Powell married August 28, 1873, Lorette Smallwood, daughter of John Smallwood, of Ripley, Chautauqua county, N.Y. Mr. Small- wood was born in England February 15, 1811, and emigrated with his father's family to America in 1820. He married September 20, 1837, Harriet Jeanette, youngest daughter of the late Judge Web- ster, of Ripley. Mr. Smallwood was a successful farmer. He was also assessor in Ripley for many years. For eight years and over he was one of the commissioners of license for the county of Chautauqua. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to the various interests of which he was a liberal contributor. He also gave his support, by personal effort and otherwise, to the objects of benevolent and reforma- tory institutions generally. The father of Mrs. Smallwood was Elizur Webster, who was born in Connecticut August 24, 1767. In October, 1803, he removed from Washington county, N. Y., to Batavia, and in 1808 to Warsaw, where he had taken up sev- eral thousand acres of the Holland company's land. In 1837 he removed to Ripley. He was the first settler in the present town of Warsaw, and was eight miles from the nearest settler on the Holland purchase. He was appointed a justice of the peace, the first in the township, and was the first supervisor of Warsaw after its formation, and held the office many years. He was also successively associate judge of the county court, a member of assembly in 1816 and 1817, and a member of the constitu- tional convention in 1821. He died in Ripley in 1848. One of his daughters married Andrew W. Young, a prominent citizen of western New York, and author of " Science of Government," " National Economy," "American Statesman," " History of Chau- tauqua County, New York," etc. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have a family of four children : Lewis Smallwood Powell, Nellie Wil- lard Powell, Edith Maria Powell, and Mary Louise Powell.
Mr. Powell's varied experiences before he settled down to
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the practice of the law were, as will be perceived, of a char- acter to develop that spirit of self-reliance, without which there is small chance for success in any profession. He has seen much of the world and men of the world, and acquired thus a knowl- edge not to be gleaned of books, and that must needs stand in good stead the lawyer, whose duties call almost as loudly for an understanding of human nature and of matters and things gen- erally as of the letter and spirit of the law. He was a dutiful student before his admission and has been a dutiful student ever since. Not a few members of our profession foolishly imagine that when they have gone far enough into the books to acquire title to hang out a shingle, they have fully equipped themselves. Mr. Powell made no such error. He realized from the begin- ning that while a few years of patient poring over the authorities are sufficient to secure the legal right to call one's self an attorney at law, every spare hour for years after admission must be de- voted to keeping pace with new developments, if one seeks to be a lawyer just to his clients and useful to himself. The result is that now, after nearly fourteen years of continuous practice, he enjoys the benefits of a large and profitable clientage, and they, in turn, enjoy the benefit of being ably as well as faith- fully served. Mr. Powell is yet young and ambitious and has every prospect, if his life is spared and his physical vigor con- tinues, of reaching a distinguished position in the profession.
GEORGE STEELE FERRIS.
George Steele Ferris was born at Pittston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1849. He is a descendant of Samuel Ferris, a native of Reading, in Warwickshire, England, who was one of the early settlers of the Massachusetts colony. He was a resident of Stratford, Conn., as early as 1655. Zachariah Fer- ris, son of Samuel Ferris, married Sarah (Noble) Ferris about 1698, and resided in New Milford, Conn. Benjamin Ferris, son of Zachariah Ferris, married Phebe Beecher, of Litchfield, Conn.
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He was an approved and valuable minister of the gospel, and belonged to the society of Friends, and was a brother of David Ferris, whose memoirs and life was published in Philadelphia in 1855. Benjamin Ferris, son of Benjamin Ferris, was born in 1738. He married Mary Howland, great-granddaughter of Lord Edmund Fitzgerald. Eber Ferris, son of Benjamin Ferris, was born in Newtown, Conn., May 26, 1784. Edwin Fitzgerald Fer- ris, son of Eber Ferris, was born February 19, 1822, at Una- dilla, N. Y. He spent his early life in Otsego county, N. Y., and came to the Wyoming Valley in company with the late Rev. Reuben Nelson, D. D. After the opening of the Wyoming Sem- inary, September 24, 1844, he was one of the teachers. He resided in Pittston for many years, and in 1847 was superintend- ent for Lord and John L. Butler during their early coal opera- tions. He subsequently engaged in the milling business, and was in partnership at various times with James Mott, Theodore Strong, J. A. Wisner, and Charles Steele, until the summer of 1861, when he accepted a position in the civil service at Wash- ington, D. C. He died June 7, 1877, at Pittston. He married December 7, 1847, Margaret, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Ransom) Steele. Mrs. Ferris was a descendant of Samuel Ransom, who was born about 1737, at or near Ipswich, Eng- land. He was a resident of Canaan, Litchfield county, Conn., on May 6, 1756, and on that day was married to Esther Lau- rence. She was born about the year 1739, in Windham county, Conn. In 1758 the eastern part of Canaan was set off into the town of Norfolk, and it was in this town, near Doolittle Pond, that Samuel Ransom bought land and lived until he removed to the Wyoming Valley, in 1773; and it was on this farm that all his children, except the youngest, were born. He was evidently a prominent citizen, and, for those days, a wealthy farmer. In less than six months after he moved to the valley he had established himself as a prominent citizen, and March 2, 1774, he was chosen a selectman of the town of Westmoreland, and a surveyor of highways. His name frequently appears in the local histories of the times as a leading member of the com- munity, and a participant with his neighbors in the earlier trou- bles between the Connecticut settlers and the Pennsylvania au-
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thorities, and in the events leading to the revolutionary war. Miner, in his " Hazleton Travelers," speaks of Captain Ransom as having been in the French and Indian war. It is not likely that he would have been appointed a captain in the Continental service had he not had some previous military experience in the field. The Hartford, Conn., state records show that he was com- missioned by the assembly October, 1775, as captain of the Third company Twenty-Fourth regiment Connecticut militia. On August 24, 1776, it was voted at a town meeting to erect cer- tain forts " as a defense against our common enemy "-the British and Indians. Among the forts erected in compliance with this resolution was one on Garrison Hill, in Plymouth ; and for this Samuel Ransom hauled the first log. On August 23, 1776, con- gress passed the following resolution : "Two companies on the Continental establishment to be raised in the town of Westmore- land, and stationed in the proper places for the defense of the inhabitants of said town and parts adjacent, till further order of . congress ; * that the said troops be enlisted to serve
* * during the war, unless sooner discharged by congress ; * that they be liable to serve in any part of the United States." On August 26, 1776, congress commissioned Samuel Ransom, of Plymouth, captain. He enlisted his company, which was known as the Second Independent company, for the revolutionary service, and was attached to the Connecticut line. On Decem- ber .12, 1776, congress resolved, "that the two companies raised in the town of Westmoreland be ordered to join Washington with all possible expedition." Captain Ransom's company con- sisted of eighty-four men, and its headquarters before joining Washington was either at Garrison Hill or Forty Fort. On the roll of names I find that of his son-in-law, Timothy Hopkins, and of his son, George Palmer Ransom. Without following Cap- tain Ransom and his company in historical detail, it will be suffi- cient to say that they joined the regular Continental army at Morristown, N. J., and were first under fire in January, 1777, at the battle of Millstone, N. J., near Somerset court house, under General Dickinson. We next find Ransom engaged at the bat- tles of Brandywine, Germantown, Bound Brook, and Mud Fort, and in other lesser engagements, where he and his command
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acquitted themselves like veterans. In October, 1777, his com- pany, by casualties, was reduced to sixty-two men. During the winter they remained with the main army in winter quarters near Morristown, N. J. In the following June affairs in the Wyoming Valley became so threatening that Captain Ransom resigned to go to his home and defend it against the British and Indians, who were advancing down the valley under Colonel John Butler. Captain Ransom reached Forty Fort on the morning of the massacre and reported to Colonel Zebulon Butler, the American commander, as a volunteer aide. Upon the incidents of the massacre it is not necessary to dilate. Captain Ransom fully sustained his reputation as a cool and fearless soldier, and was killed in the heat of the fight. He was with Whittlesly's com- pany on the extreme left, under the command of Colonels Deni- son and Dorrance. He was detailed to make a reconnoisance of the ground at the opening of the engagement, and, as he did not return to report, it is probable that he went at once into the thick of the fight and was unable to withdraw before he was killed. Of the fifteen officers eleven were killed. Every captain of the six companies, including Captain Ransom, was found dead at the front of the line. The place where they fell is about a mile above the Wyoming station of the D., L. & W. R. R., and very nearly on the bed of the track of that road. Captain Ransom's body was found near fort Wintermoot with a musket shot through the thigh, his head severed from his shoulders and his whole body scarred with gashes. It was identified by the shoe and knee buckles. He was buried with the other bodies near the site of the granite monument erected to the memory of those who fell in this battle. His name leads the list of the killed en- graved upon the tablet. The township of Ransom in Lacka- wanna (late Luzerne) county, was named in honor of Captain Samuel Ransom. The sufferings, hardships, and outrages to which the survivors of the massacre and their families were sub- jected are too familiar to require repetition here. Samuel Ran- som's house and other buildings were burnt, and his family fled down the valley with the other refugees. After the advance of Sullivan's army his family returned and re-occupied their land, only to become involved in the troubles growing out of the
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struggle for the ownership of the valley between the Connecti- cut and the Pennsylvania authorities. In all these hardships they bore their share. After the death of Captain Ransom his widow married Captain James Bidlack, sen., and is said to have moved back to Norfolk, Conn., where, in all probability, she died. George Palmer Ransom, second son of Captain Samuel Ransom, went to the Wyoming Valley with his father in 1773, when eleven years of age. At fourteen years of age he enlisted in his father's company and served with it during the war. After the resignation of Captains Ransom and Durkee, their companies were merged into one under Lieutenant, afterwards Captain, Spalding, and on the day of the massacre July 3, 1778, it was hastening to the scene of hostilities, but was still some forty-five miles distant at Shupp's, on the Pocono. George was with this company the day of the battle. He helped to bury the dead, among them his father. On December 6, 1780, when eighteen years old, he and five others were taken prisoners by a party of Butler's rangers and carried into captivity to Montreal, suffering grievous hardships and subjected to many indignities. In June. 1781, he and several others escaped from prison. They wan- deaed through the dense wilderness towards Lake Champlain, which they reached after three days and nights of intense suffer- ing from cold, fatigue, and hunger. They lived on snakes and frogs. He next went to a kinsman's at Pultney, Vt., where he remained until completely rested, and then went to Connecti- cut. From there he re-joined his company. He was in Sulli- van's campaign up the Susquehanna valley after the Indians, and afterwards was stationed at West Point, N. Y., where he received an honorable discharge at the end of the war. He married his first wife, Olive Utley, of Taunton, Mass., during the war, nor did he take his wife and child to Plymouth till the close of the same Mrs. Ransom rode there on horseback, carrying in her arms her infant daughter, Sarah, afterwards Mrs. Joseph Steele, and the grandmother of the subject of our sketch. After his discharge George Palmer Ransom settled permanently at Ply- mouth, where for sixty-five years he was a well-known, greatly respected and highly honored citizen. He was for many years colonel of the militia regiment of Luzerne county. He died in
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1850 in his eighty-ninth year. His first wife died July 14, 1793, aged thirty-three years. Sarah Ransom, eldest child of Colonel George Palmer Ransom and Olive (Utley) Ransom, was born Sep- tember 11, 1784, at Taunton, Mass. She married May 1, 1800, Joseph Steele, of New Buffalo, Pa. Margaret, youngest child of Joseph and Sarah Steele, and mother of the subject of our sketch, was born June 23, 1826, at Hanover township, Luzerne county, Pa. For the facts relating to the Ransom family we are indebted to " A GENEALOGICAL RECORD OF THE DESCENDANTS OF CAPTAIN SAMUEL RANSOM, OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY," compiled by his great-great-grandson, Captain Clinton B. Sears, of the United States army. George S. Ferris was educated at Columbia col- lege, Washington, D. C., and at Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., from which latter institution he graduated in 1869. In 1870 and 1871 he was a clerk in the treasury department in Washing- ton, D. C., and while in that position he studied law in the Col- umbia Law school of that city. He graduated from the Law school, in June, 1871, and was admitted to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. He then returned to Pittston and entered the law office of the late C. S. Stark, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county February 19, 1872. Mr. Ferris has been for the past six years a trustee of the First Presbyterian church of West Pittston, and is at present a school director of that borough. He married September 1, 1875, Ada, daughter of Lewis G. Stark, who resides near Nicholson, Wyoming county, Pa. They have one child, Edwin Fitzgerald Ferris.
Lewis G. Stark is the descendant of Aaron Stark, of Hartford Conn., in 1639. He was in Windsor in 1643; in Mystic in 1653. In May, 1666, he took the freeman's oath in Stonington, Conn. In 1669 he was made freeman of New London, Conn., where he died in 1685. Christopher Stark, son of William Stark, and grandson of Aaron Stark, lived in Dutchess county, N. Y., and must have been a very aged man when he removed to Wyoming with his family in 1769. He died in 1771. James Stark, one of his sons, died July 20, 1777. In the battle and massacre were three of the name: Aaron Stark, James Stark, and Aaron Stark, jun. David and Aaron, sons of Christopher Stark, fell. Aaron Stark, jun., son of James Stark, was in the massacre and
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escaped. He subsequently returned to Dutchess county, N. Y. William Stark, son of Christopher Stark, canie from Dutchess county, N. Y., and settled on the Tunkhannock creek, now in Wyoming county, Pa. He married Polly Cary, and dicd about 1795. He was buried at Goshen, N. Y. Nathan Stark, son of William Stark, was born December 28, 1768. He married Dorcas Dixon, and died May 23, 1837. William Stark, son of Nathan Stark, was born January 13, 1791. He was a pensioner of the war of 1812, and died a few years since. Lewis G. Stark is a son of William Stark.
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