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 40
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BARNET MILLER ESPY.
Wood landed in Philadelphia he had s veral thousand dollars in gold, which he deposited in a Philadelphia bank for safe keeping. While prospecting in the valley of Wyoming for land, the bank broke and he lost his deposits. He was therefore compelled to depend on home resources to complete his purchases in Wilkes- Barre. In the settlement of the affairs of the bank he, however, realized a part of his money by taking land located in Bradford county. The tract given in part payment was two thousand acres in extent. Moses Wood resided upon his farm at Wilkes-Barre for many years after his settlement here, and educated and reared his sons in habits of industry and economy. In 1823 he com- menced mining coal. IIe shipped it down the Susquehanna river in keel boats, or arks, as they were called. He was among the first miners of coal in Wilkes-Barre. At that early day the business was unprofitable. He spent the latter part of his life in the borough (now city) of Wilkes-Barre, and here died in 1853. His wife died in 1852. His sons became successful merchants and business men. The late John B. Wood, of this city, a successful merchant and banker; the late Matthew and Moses Wood, of this city; Isaac Wood, and the late Rev. William Wood, of Trenton, N. J .; and Abraham Wood, were among his children. He donated the land on which the Central M. E. church is built, and gave liber- ally towards the erection of the building. It was built in Wood- ville, a suburb of the borough of Wilkes-Barre, now nearly the central part of the city. The church was chartered as the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Woodville. John B. Wood, the son of Moses Wood, married Sarah Gore. She was a descend- ant of John Gore and Rhoda Gore, his wife, of England, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., in 1635. Samuel Gore, a grandson of John Gore, was a resident of Norwich, Conn., in 1714. Oba- diah Gore, son of Samuel Gore and Hannah Gore, was born July 26, 1714. He married Hannah Parks, and died about 1779. Hannah was a sister of Captain Thomas Parks, the first settler of Litchfield, Luzerne (now Bradford) county, Pa. He built his house near the state line about 1800. Obadiah Gore moved from near Boston to Plainfield, Conn., and thence to Wyoming in 1768. He was an aged man at the time of the massacre, and was left in Forty Fort while the army went out to meet the enemy. He
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BARNET MILLER ESPY.
was a magistrate under the laws of Connecticut. His commis- sion, signed in April 1778, bears the name of Jonathan Trumbull, then governor of Connecticut. In the little band that marched forth on July 3, 1778, were his sons Samuel Gore, Daniel Gore, Silas Gore, George Gore, and Asa Gore. The father in the fort and five sons marching out to the conflict ! Nor was this all : John Murfee, who married a daughter of Mr. Gore (the sister of these five brothers), was also in the ranks; and Timothy Pearce, another brother-in-law, having ridden all night, came in and joined our little army on the battlefield. Thus there were seven in the battle, while an eighth was in service with the regular army ; and it proved a tnost bloody and disastrous day to the family. At sunset five of the seven were on the field mangled corpses. Asa and Silas were ensigns, and were slain; George was slain ; Murfee was slain. Timothy Pearce held a commission in the regular army, but had hurried in. He, also, was killed. Lieu- tenant Daniel Gore was near the right wing and stood a few rods below Wintermoot's fort, close up to the old road that led up through the valley. Stepping into the road a ball struck him in the arm; he applied a hasty bandage, tearing it from his shirt. Just at that moment Captain Durkee stepped into the road at the same place. "Look out !" said Mr. Gore, "there are some of the savages concealed under yonder heap of logs." At that in- stant a bullet struck Captain Durkee in the thigh. When retreat became inevitable, Mr. Gore endeavored to assist Captain Durkee from the field, but found it impossible; and Durkee said, "Save yourself, Mr. Gore, my fate is sealed." Lieutenant Gore then escaped down the road, and leaping the fence about a mile below, lay crouched close under a bunch of bushes. While there an Indian got over the fence and stood near him. Mr. Gore said he could see the white of his eye, and was almost sure he was discovered. A moment after a yell was raised on the flats below ; the Indian drew up his rifle and fired, and instantly ran off in that direction. Though the wave of death seemed to have passed over and spent itself, yet Lieutenant Gore remained under cover until dusk. After dark Mr. Gore found his way to the fort and met his brother Samuel, the only survivor of the seven. The distress of Mrs. Murfee was very great. She feared her
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BARNET MILLER ESPY.
husband had been tortured. When she learned he fell on the field she was less distressed ; and begging her way with the rest of the fugitives, traversed the wilderness, and sought a home in the state from which she had emigrated, having an infant born a few days after her arrival among her former friends. No tongue can tell, no pencil can paint, the sorrows and the sufferings of poor Wyoming; and all, undoubtedly, occasioned by drawing away the men raised here for its special defense. Obadiah Gore, eldest son of Obadiah Gore, was one of the most prominent men of his day in Wyoming. In 1776 he entered the Continental army in a regiment commanded by Colonel Isaac Nichols, and served six years; was commissioned first-lieutenant by John Hancock, October 11, 1776, and by John Jay, March 16, 1779. At the organization of Luzerne county he was commissioned one of the judges. Judge Gore and his father were blacksmiths, and were the first persons to use anthracite coal in this country, and began to use it in their forges about 1772. In the few black- smiths' shops in Wyoming and the West Branch settlements coal was gradually introduced after its manipulation by the Gores. They were among the prisoners taken by the Pennamites in 1768. They were also in the terrible troubles of Wyoming, known as the first and second Pennamite wars. Judge Gore removed to Sheshequin, Luzerne (now Bradford) county, in 1784. He built the first frame house in the township about 1787, and had also the first distillery in the township. He was appointed a justice of the peace as early as April, 1782. The first marriage entry on his docket is April 20, 1788, and is that of Matthias Hollen- back and Miss Sarah Hibbard. In 1781 and 1782 Judge Gore was one of the members from Westmoreland to the Connecticut assembly. In 1788, 1789 and 1790 he was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. John Gore, the youngest son of Oba- diah Gore, and the brother of Judge Gore, married Elizabeth Ross, youngest sister of General William Ross. Their daughter Sarah married John B. Wood. John Espy, who was admitted to the Luzerne county bar April 20, 1868, and now a resident of St. Paul, Minn., is a son-in-law of John B. Wood, and is a brother of the subject of our sketch. The mother of Mrs. B. M. Espy is Caroline Bowers, of Mount Carmel, Ill. She is the daughter of
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438
WILLIAM PENN RYMAN.
George Bowers of the same place, who emigrated to that state from Dauphin county, Pa. The late Theodore S. Bowers, colonel and assistant adjutant-general U. S. A., on General Grant's staff, and who was killed by accident at Garrison Station, N. Y., March 7, 1866, was a brother of Mrs. Abraham Wood.
Mr. Espy, as will be observed, comes of a good family. He comports himself, both professionally and as a citizen, in a man- ner worthy of such an origin. He is not what the world calls a pushing man, but cannot, therefore, be said to lack energy. His methods are of the quiet order and not such as make men con- spicuous, but observers will not fail to notice that those who make the most noise in the world are not always the ones who achieve the most substantial successes. He is a good lawyer, being careful in advising and conscientious in his application to the hard work which the practice of the law involves. He is a republican in politics, and although always interested in behalf of his party, is not a politician in any sense of the term, being neither an aspirant for office nor what is commonly called a worker in campaigns. He is an active member of the Franklin Street Methodist Episcopal church, where his services are always in demand and held in high appreciation by the church. In a word, he is an unobtrusive, though useful member of the profes- sion, as well as a creditable and honored citizen.
WILLIAM PENN RYMAN.
William Penn Ryman was born in Dallas, Luzerne county, Pa., August 23, 1847. His grandfather, Peter Ryman, a native of New Jersey, was one of the early settlers of Dallas. He purchased a farm on which Abram Ryman, the father of the subject of our sketch was born, and which is still in the possession of the family. Abram Ryman, during his life-time, was one of the prominent men of his neighborhood. From his early youth he was con- nected with the Methodist Episcopal church, and held various positions in the church of his choice. He was able, active, intel-
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WILLIAM PENN RYMAN.
ligent, charitable, and devoted to the interests of his native town- ship. The mother of W. P. Ryman was Jemima Kunkle, a daughter of the late Philip Kunkle, also a native of New Jersey. The late Wesley Kunkle, who was recorder of deeds for Luzerne county from 1860 to 1863, was her brother. Mr. Ryman was prepared for college at Wyoming Seminary, and then entered Cornell University, Ithica, N. Y., in which he graduated in 1871. He then entered Harvard Law school from which he graduated in 1873 He read law with E. P. Darling, of this city, and was ad- mitted to the Luzerne county bar September 20, 1873. He is the senior member of the firm of Ryman & Lewis. Mr. Ryman organized the first telephone and electric light company in this city, and is at present secretary and treasurer of the Wilkes- Barre Electric Light Company. Rev. Charles Ryman, presiding elder in the North Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a cousin of W. P. Ryman. Mr. Ryman married, December 18, 1879, Charlotte M. Rose, a daughter of George P. Rose, of Fenton, Mich. They have two children, Roselys F. Ryman and Emily M. Ryman. Mr. Ryman is a Re- publican in politics, but has never held an office. There is both solidity and consistency in the methods which William Penn Ry- nian brings to the practice of his profession, and to the several other business enterprises with which he has concerned himself. He is fortunate in the fact that his personal appearance gives, even to the indifferent observer, conspicuous evidence of his pos- sessing a fine mental organization, and being ready of speech and animated in manner, he easily prepossesses himself in a client's favor, and when we add that he is both industrious and sincerely heedful to keep his compacts to the letter, we have fully accounted for his already large and growing practice. He is well read in general literature, a good conversationalist, and pos- sessed of other attractive social capacities and qualities. As a man of business outside his profession he is keen-witted and enterprising, and as a consequence already finds himself in easy circumstances. It is in Mr. Ryman, as the years roll on, to be- come a leading member of the bar, as he is already a good law- yer and a generally useful and prominent citizen.
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440
JOHN JOSEPH SCANLAN.
JOHN JOSEPH SCANLAN.
John Joseph Scanlan was born October 24, 1845, at Inver, in the county of Donegal, Ireland. When but two years of age he emigrated with his father, Peter Scanlan, to this country, settling in Wilkes-Barre, where he has resided the greater part of his life. Mr. Scanlan was educated in the public schools and at St. Mary's College, Wilmington, Del., graduating in the class of 1865. He studied law with D. L. O'Neill, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county September 20, 1873. In 1868 and 1869 he was treasurer's clerk of Luzerne county, serving under his uncle, Neal McGroarty, the treasurer. In 1867, 1868, 1869, and 1870 he was one of the auditors of Wilkes-Barre township. He is at present the manager of the Spirit Publishing Company. He . married, August 4, 1874, Jessie Annine Leighton, a daughter of David C. Leighton, of Scranton. Mr. Leighton is a native of the county of Kerry, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Scanlan have four children living, Mary Scanlan, Jessie Magdellan Scanlan, John Joseph Scanlan, and Peter Leo Scanlan.
JOHN THOMAS LENAHAN.
John Thomas Lenahan was born at Port Griffith, Luzerne county, Pa., November 15, 1852. His father, Patrick Lenahan, a resident of this city, was born at Newport, in the county of Mayo, Ireland, May 17, 1825. He emigrated to this country in 1846, first settling in Apalachicola, Fla. He resided there for three years, and from there he removed to New York. He then removed to Buttermilk Falls, Wyoming county, Pa., and engaged in the mercantile business. He remained there but one year, and removed to Port Griffith, where he was engaged in business for nine years as a merchant. In 1860 he removed to this city and
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JOHN THOMAS LENAHAN.
carried on a mercantile business until 1879, when he retired from business. While residing at Port Griffith he served as a school director and filled other township offices. During the late civil war he served as second lieutenant of company D, Eighth regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers in the three months' service, his regiment being mustered out July 29, 1861. The mother of John T. Lenahan was Margaret Durkin, daughter of the late Hugh Durkin, a native of Tyrawley, county of Mayo, Ireland. John T. Lenahan was educated under the care of the Fathers of St. Augustine, at Villa Nova College, Delaware county, Pa., and graduated in 1870. He read law with Wright & Harrington, . and subsequently with Rhone & Lynch, spending a portion of the time in the interim in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county October 27, 1873. In 1879 he was the democratic candidate for district attorney of Luzerne county, but was defeated by Alfred Darte, the republican candidate ; the vote standing Darte 7,292, Lenahan 5,235, and Bryson, labor reformer, 3,814. Mr. Lenahan married, April 26, 1880, Mary Donovan, a native of Philadelphia and the daughter of William Donovan of that city. Mr. Dono- van was born near Belfast, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Lenahan have two children, William Donovan Lenahan and Gertrude Eleanor Lenahan. Mr. Lenahan is a young man of much force and energy of character, traits which, added to a taste and excep- tionally superior capacity for jury pleading, have given him an extensive practice, especially in the Quarter Sessions Court. At every successive convening of that tribunal in this county the list shows him to have been retained in a large percentage of the cases. He is a severe cross-examiner, as witnesses opposed to the side on which he pleads, are ever willing to admit. He has had fees in a considerable number of the more important crimi- nal cases that have been tried in Luzerne since his admission, and in that connection has made several notable pleas. He is clear in analyzing the circumstances of a crime, separating the material from the immaterial, and constructing from either a highly plausible case, and is especially strong in exposing to the jury discrepancies in the stories of witnesses whose testi- mony it is his client's interest to invalidate. Following this
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FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS.
up with a scathing and vehement arraignment of an opponent, he seldom fails in serving a cause in which he has been engaged to the utmost extent possible from the facts. It has been stated that he was, in 1879, the nominee of the democratic party for the responsible office of district attorney. The party had not yet re- covered from a split occasioned by the revolt of the labor element two years before. The bulk of the vote cast for Bryson was democratic, and, as a consequence, Mr. Darte, the republican candidate, was successful, though, as the figures above given show, it was by a minority of the total poll. Mr. Lenahan has always been, and still is, an active democratic politician. He has served his party frequently as delegate to county and state con- ventions, and was one year chairman of the county convention. He has also served upon committees, and been frequently upon the stump, his vigorous oratory making him an especial favorite with that large contingent of voters who esteem any other than the bluntest of English and the strongest of invective wasted in a political campaign. His physical comports with his mental structure, being robust and pronounced. He has evidently made good use of his educational advantages, and, being an attentive and intelligent reader of current political and other literature, and of a genial disposition, numbers his ardent friends among the hundreds.
FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS.
Francis Marion Nichols was born May 23, 1851, at Smith- field, Bradford county, Pa. His great-grandfather, Stephen Nichols, came from England and settled in Connecticut. His son John removed from that state in 1819, and settled in Albany township, Bradford county. The wife of John Nichols, who was. Margaret Potter, was also born in England. Her father, Robert Potter was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and was with General Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne. John Nichols was a basket maker, and he had both reputation and pride in the manufacture of that article. The following anecdote is related of him: At
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FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS.
one time he offered to make for a neighbor a basket containing one and a half bushels for as much wheat as the basket would convey water from a spring to the house, a distance of a few rods. The offer was accepted and Mr. Nichols began his work. Selecting and thoroughly seasoning his splints, which were cut very narrow, he wove them as closely as possible, and then soaked the basket in water, which expanded the wood and closed the interstices. He then summoned the neighbor, and going to the spring filled the basket with water and carried it to the house, the fluid standing an inch only from the rim. The price was paid. His son, George W. Nichols, and the father of F. M. Nichols, is a native of Albany. He lives at New Albany, in the same town- ship, and is a millwright and carpenter by trade. He has been a justice of the peace for fifteen or twenty years. The mother of F. M. Nichols, and the wife of George W. Nichols, was Elizabeth B. Hemingway, of Rome, Pa. She died May 3, 1872. In a work which Mr. Nichols has in preparation, and which is entitled . "An Argument in Favor of the Bible Narration of Man's Crea- tion and Dreams in which Humanity's Future is Revealed and its Shadows Depicted," he pays the following tribute to her memory :
"Many years have elapsed since I received the farewell kiss, and heard the dying prayer of my dear christian mother,-the house in which she endeavored, by her love and tenderness, to guard the susceptibilities of my youth against evil temptations, and with an anxious heart saw me cross the threshold of man- hood-all the associations in the midst of which she faithfully did her life's work, the grave within whose solemn walls her physical presence was hidden forever from my sight, are many miles away; but unconnected with all tangible objects, I can sit here in the silence of the midnight hour, and recall before my mind's eyes her cheering countenance and hear again the kind and loving words with which she sought to comfort me in sad- ness or make more gratifying the fruits of success. I can see her weeping over the missteps of my boyhood, and smiling her heart's joy when she saw the seeds of truth and virtue, which she had sown in my moral nature, beginning to sprout. I can see her, O, how distinctly, slowly and without a murmur, fading away under the ravages of disease, and when the grim presence of death became visible to her consciousness, in the midst of the tears and sobs of children, friends and neighbors, with a calmness
LIFE
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FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS.
that the terrors of her approaching dissolution could not disturb, and a reliance upon the promises of her Master, that was absolutely free from the weakness of doubt or uncertainty, beseeching God to pour into the broken hearts at her bedside the consolation of a christian's hope.
But equally as distinct I remember the influence of my mother's physical presence; I can re-experience the soothing sensations that came to me from the gentle stroke of her hand upon my forehead, when sickness, anger or disappointments beclouded the pleasures and ambitions of my childhood. When the turmoil and greed of the business contentions of the world are hidden from my sight, and I am permitted to meditate in the quiet and inspiration of solitude, I can feel in the sensibilities of my soul the touch of her christian and moral instructions, and in the purest recesses of my heart the sacred influences of her last prayer."
Mr. Nichols remained at home until he was sixteen years of age, and has depended upon his own resources since. In his early youth he was a teacher in the schools of Athens and Ulster town- ships in his native county, and also for a while taught mathe- matics in Macauly's Business College at Lawrence, Kan. He finished his education at the State University of Kansas at Law- rence. He entered as a Sophomore, and remained in the institu- tion for three years. While at Lawrence he commenced to read law with Barker & Summerfield, and finished his reading with W. A. & B. M. Peck, at Towanda, Pa., and was admitted to the Bradford county bar in the spring of 1873, and admitted to the Luzerne county bar October 28, 1873. In 1879 Mr. Nichols was appointed by the court district attorney of Luzerne county to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Charles E. Rice, then dis- trict attorney, to the bench. In the same year he was a candidate for nomination in the republican county convention for the same office, but was defeated by a few votes only. In 1880 he was appointed by Attorney General Palmer a special assistant for Luzerne county. In 1881 he was chairman of the Luzerne county Independents, who refused to support the nominee of the Republican state convention for state treasurer. In 1882 he was the Republican candidate for district attorney, but was defeated at the polls by John McGahren, democrat, the vote standing : Nichols 9,394, McGahren 10,358. Mr. Nichols married February 1, 1874, Mary Corker of Norwich, N. Y. She died February 2,
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FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS.
1883. . They had the following named children: Florence Ed- monda Nichols, Lyman Bennett Nichols, Lester Wilson Nichols and Leona M. Nichols. Mr. Nichols married a second time, July 3, 1883, Almina Wilson of Clifford, Susquehanna county, Pa. They have one child, Francis Marian Nichols.
Mr. Nichols has been a republican ever since he arrived at vot- ing age, but not of the sort who blindly accept whatever is done in the party name as constituting a gospel from which there is no right of appeal. As a consequence he has been in antagonism with the party management, and not in sentiment only, but in action. He led the revolt against Cameronism in the beginning of the opposition in the party to the continued domination of the faction whose doctrine or method was expressed in that word. His activity at the time was characterized by all the ardor of youth and firm conviction. He acted as chairman of the Inde- pendents, as they were called, for Luzerne county, wrote letters, made speeches and devoted much time and care to the details of organization. A year later, however, he returned to his old allegiance, was nominated for district attorney, and since has been equally active and earnest for the regular organization and ticket. He has done much duty upon the stump, being a ready talker and always read up in current politics. During the campaign of 1884, he prepared a lengthy essay upon the tariff and delivered it to a large audience in the court house. It was an able and exhaustive presentation of the subject from his standpoint, which was the essentiality of the protective system as distinguished from the doctrine of incidental protection. As an attorney Mr. Nichols is well-booked, painstaking and possessed of a happy capacity in pleading to a jury. Though he combines other busi- ness with his practice he has a considerable clientage and is rated among the most successful of the younger members of the bar.
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EMORY ROBINSON.
EMORY ROBINSON.
Emory Robinson was born in the village of Lenoxville, Sus- quehanna county, Pa., July 6, 1849. He is the youngest son of Daniel Robinson, a native of the same place. His great-grand- father, Robert Robinson, left the State of New Jersey in com- pany with eleven other persons and settled at Natchez, on the Mississippi river. He was killed while working in the field, by Indians. This settlement was commenced before the revolution- ary war. Mr. Robinson left his family in New Jersey, and they knew nothing of his fate until after the close of the war. His grandfather, Bryant Robinson, served in the war of the revolu- tion, enlisting at the age of fifteen years. He was a native of Morris township, Morris county, N. J. The wife of Bryant Rob- inson was Elizabeth Scott, a daughter of James Scott, of Sussex county, N. J. They removed from New Jersey to Pittston, Pa., in 1788, where their two eldest children were born. From there they moved to Nicholson, Luzerne (now Wyoming) county, Pa., in 1795, and from there to Lenox, Luzerne (now Susquehanna) county, where, as we have already stated, the father of the sub- ject of our sketch was born. The mother of Mr. Robinson was Clarissa Sweet, a daughter of Jacob Sweet, of Susquehanna county. Mr. Sweet was the son of Captain Jacob Sweet, of the State of New York. He resided near the head waters of the Susquehanna river. He was a lumberman, and while taking a raft down the Susquehanna river, in running through a chute the raft was wrecked and he was drowned. Mr. Robinson's early life was spent in the usual labors of a farmer's son, with the exception that his parents were liberal in allowing him any opportunity he desired for mental culture which could be secured in the neighborhood. At the age of sixteen years he had passed all the studies taught in the schools of the village, somewhat noted for their advancement, and with the aid of an accidental teacher of more than ordinary culture, had advanced far in the higher mathematics. By the aid and encouragement of a Rev. Mr. Parsons he carried on his studies as best he could, and in
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