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 7
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After being admitted, Mr. Brundage rose rapidly in his profes- sion, and in 1855 was a contestant in the Democratic Convention with ex-Judge Edmund L. Dana and others for the nomination for District Attorney. After a sharp contest, he carried off the honors of the candidacy. His Republican opponent at the polls was the late Judge W. W. Ketcham, whom he defeated, being the only candidate on his ticket who succeeded in achieving an , election. His term proved to be an exceptional one in the matter of the large number of important criminal cases that came on for trial during its continuance. These included, among others, two capital cases, in which Reese Evans and James Quinn were respectively defendants. Mr. Brundage brought all his skill and energy to their prosecution, and both were convicted and hanged. Besides having been District Attorney, he has held a number of local offices, and has been frequently mentioned in his party for Judge, Congressman, and other high positions. He was the choice of the Luzerne Convention of 1880 for Congress, but retired from the Conference when it became evident that Lacka- wanna county would not recede from her demands. He has been many times the delegate of his party to State and National Conventions, on the floors of which he has delivered some stir- ring addresses.
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CHARLES ISAAC ABEL CHAPMAN.
As an attorney, Mr. Brundage has but few peers at this or any other bar in the State. He is a fluent speaker, and very effective before a jury. Many retain a lively recollection of his eloquent, but unavailing, defense of the murderer Muller, and nearly every reader will recall some one or more of his many other brilliant efforts in the criminal and other Courts. His well known capac- ity, and the untiring zeal and energy which he brings to the maintenance of the rights of those by whom his professional services are employed, have attracted to him a large and profita- ble clientage, of the continued enjoyment of which the liveliest competition is not at all likely to deprive him. He has frequently, too, been employed in civil suits, one of which, in behalf of the county, he recently recovered a handsome judgment against the State.
Mr. Brundage is a communicant of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church of this city, and for twenty-five years has been one of its Vestrymen.
Personally, Mr. Brundage is one of the pleasantest of gentlemen, and of a most affable demeanor, besides being a brilliant conver- sationalist. He is still in the full vigor of a robust manhood, and the possessor of a competency, which ought to make the remainder of his journey of life a pleasant one.
CHARLES ISAAC ABEL CHAPMAN.
There are many, even of the intimate friends of Charles Isaac Abel Chapman, who are surprised when informed that he is an attorney at law, but it is nevertheless a fact that he was found qualified and regularly admitted to membership of the Luzerne county bar, January 8th, 1850. Mr. Chapman is a native of Wilkes-Barre, in which city he was born on the 9th of October, 1826. His father, Isaac A. Chapman, was a native of Norwich, Conn., and a civil engineer by profession. "He married," to use the son's language, "my mother (Rebecca D. Jennison), a New
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CHARLES ISAAC ABEL CHAPMAN.
London girl, bringing her from Troy, N. Y., to Wilkes-Barre, four years previous to my birth." His youth had been one of privation and hardship, which he had, however, successfully surmounted, achieving in his young manhood a position in the service of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, of whose early work he had principal charge, under the late Josiah White, with whom he had projected what is claimed to have been the first railroad, and "navigated" the first rail car that ever ran on this continent. In partnership with the late Charles Miner and Jacob Cist, he began the mining of coal, near Mauch Chunk, as early as 1814, one of the very first adventures of the kind ever made in the anthracite region. He died while in this service, and when the subject of our sketch was but an infant.
Shortly after his death, Mrs Chapman, in conjunction with Miss Sarah E. Trott (afterwards Mrs. Judge George W. Wood- ward), opened and taught the first female seminary in the. borough of Wilkes-Barre. She subsequently was married to Eleazer Carey, Esq., of Pittston, who assisted young Chapman to a liberal education, sending him, when he had grown old enough, to the Academy, taught then by Dr. Orton, and after- wards by Professors Siewers, Dana, and others. Having been prepared at this institution, he entered Lafayette College as a sophomore, and graduated in 1846 in a class of eighteen, among whom were Judge Henry Green, of the Supreme Court of the State; Rev. Chas. Jones, of Staten Island, N. Y., and Rev. Chas. Wood, of Philadelphia. He read law one year with Washington McCartney, Esq., of Easton, but was prostrated by inflamma- tory rheumatism, attended with opthalima, which debarred him from the pursuit of his chosen profession. He was admitted to practice, but under the counsel of his physician soon relinquished his law books, and took to field duty as an axeman under Wm. R. Maffet, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre, who was then superintending the construction of the Pennsylvania Coal Company's railroad from Pittston to Hawley. Upon the completion of that work, he accepted employment on the unfinished North Branch Canal extension for a year, and subsequently assisted Mr. Maffet and ex-Governor John F. Hartranft in the location of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. After this last survey, he spent a winter
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CHARLES ISAAC ABEL CHAPMAN.
as transcribing clerk in the State Senate, at Harrisburg, and the following year was commissioned Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the 13Ist Pennsylvania Volunteers. During his term of service he was most of the time acting Brigade Quartermaster under Major-General Humphries, participating in the actions at Frede- ricksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville. At the close of the war, he returned to the profession of land surveying, which he has followed at intervals ever since.
Mr. Chapman was a pioneer Republican, and in 1856 was the first candidate of that party in Luzerne for the lower house of the State Legislature. He was, of course, defeated. Three years afterwards he ran for the office of Recorder, and in the fall of 1880 was the regular Republican candidate for County Surveyor, but in each contest his Democratic opponent was successful.
The elder Chapman was a devoted student and a vigorous writer, and compiled and published the first "History of the Wyoming Valley," a book which has been more or less a guide to all his successors in that line of research and authorship. The son inherited much of his father's literary tastes, and has written largely and intelligently on all manner of subjects. He is a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and has for a number of years been a member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. He is a remarkably fluent stump speaker, being given to a sort of sledge-hammer oratory that seldom fails to evoke the plaudits of an audience, particularly of the working classes. The same degree of intensity and fierceness of expression enters into his frequent contributions on political and other topics to the local press. He is as nearly fearless as possible in the utterance of his convictions, and while at times extremely radical, is given credit by all who know him for perfect sincerity.
In answer to an inquiry as to his spiritual faith, Mr. Chapman says: "I have no religion to boast of, but am a firm believer in the divinity of Jesus Christ and the innate depravity of man, including lawyers, priests, and politicians."
Mr. Chapman was married, on the 16th of February, 1854, to Martha S. Blanchard, fourth daughter of John Blanchard, grand- son of Captain Jeremiah B. Blanchard, who commanded Pittston Fort at the time of the Massacre. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have
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DAVID LUDDINGTON PATRICK.
three children, two sons and a daughter. The sons, Maxwell and Blanchard, are engaged in gold mining in Mexico. The daughter is unmarried. Mr. Chapman is a resident of Port Blanchard, in the township of Jenkins.
DAVID LUDDINGTON PATRICK.
There are but few citizens of Luzerne county unacquainted with David Luddington Patrick. Quiet, unassuming, though good natured to a fault, combining, in short, all those qualities which go to make men popular with their fellow-men, the name and face of David L. Patrick are known, and the man is liked, from one end of the county to the other.
Mr. Patrick was born near Farmer's Mills, Dutchess county, N. Y., on January 8th, 1826. His father was David Patrick, a farmer, who was a native of Putnam county, in the Empire State, and a descendant of Capt. John Patrick, a Scotchman, who came to this country from England, in 1630, with his brother, Capt. Daniel Patrick, in the company of John Winthrop, who, in that same year, was Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts. Mr. Patrick settled, however, in Connecticut, and from him came a numerous progeny, which quickly diffused itself throughout the country-North, South, East, and West. The grandfather of the subject of our sketch' was also named John Patrick. A relative married Jemima Tyler, a sister of Governor Tyler, of Virginia, who was father of John Tyler, afterwards President of the United States, succeeding to that exalted position upon the death of President Harrison, upon the same ticket with whom he had been elected Vice-President in the great "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" campaign. The elder David removed from New York to what is now Wyoming county, in 1831, and who afterwards purchased lands in Abington township, from which place he subsequently departed for the far West, dying on his farm at .Clearwater, Wright county, Minn., June 1, 1877, at the advanced
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DAVID LUDDINGTON PATRICK.
age of eighty-five years. He had served with distinction as a Lieutenant in the second war with Great Britain. David L. was educated in the common schools and at the Madison Academy, Waverly, Pa. He came to Wilkes-Barre in 1848, and read law with H. W. & G. B. Nicholson, tutors under whose direction no young man of average good parts could fail to acquire a rea- sonably thorough knowledge of the law and familiarity with its practice. His admission came August 5th, 1850, after he had passed a very creditable examination at the hands of the com- mittee, H. B. Wright, Harrison Wright, and O. Collins. It was not long after this that Mr. Patrick began to attract the favorable notice of his fellow-citizens. He took an active interest in poli- tics, his sympathies being inherited from his antecedents with the Democratic party, and in 1855 he was placed in nomination by that party for the office of Clerk of the Courts of Luzerne county, to which office he was subsequently elected by a handsome majority, serving the full term of three years. At the expiration of his term, in 1858, so well had he acquitted himself of the duties with which he was entrusted, he was placed in nomination for the still more important and lucrative office of Prothonotary, and again he was triumphantly elected. As Prothonotary, he was in all respects efficient, and being attentive and obliging, he made an exceedingly popular official. He was elected Burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre in 1868, and served the full term.
Mr. Patrick was married on the 15th of June, 1852, to Polly A. Griffin, a daughter of Elias Griffin, a well known farmer of Abington, then Luzerne, now Lackawanna county. The couple have had five children, three sons and two daughters. Horatio N., the eldest, read law with his father, and is now practicing in Lackawanna county.
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GARRICK MALLERY HARDING.
GARRICK MALLERY. HARDING.
Garrick Mallery Harding was born in Exeter, Luzerne county, July 12, 1830. He is descended from the Puritan stock of New England, his ancestors having, away back in the early dawn of the Republic, left the stormy beaches of Massachusetts to settle, finally, amid the more sheltered and inviting silences of Pennsyl- vania. In glancing at the genealogical record of this branch of the Harding family, many interesting facts are found which con- nect them, not only with the sacrifices demanded in the early development of this continent, but also with the stirring and patriotic episodes linked with the struggles for freedom and the preservation of the doctrines of liberty. Among the first men- tioned of the ancestors of the subject of this sketch is Stephen Harding, who, in 1669, was a freeman in Providence, R. I., and a Baptist in religion. The next was his fourth son, Stephen, who probably first saw the light of day at Providence, after 1680. He was a sea captain, a man of wealth in middle life, and from his acquaintance and transactions, evidently one of the first per- sons in the colonies. In his latter days misfortune overtook him. He engaged largely in commerce, lost heavily, and retired at last to end his days on his farm. The third son of the latter was also a Stephen. He settled first in Colchester, Conn., about 1750, where his children were born. Subsequently in 1774, he removed to the Wyoming Valley, and settled on the west bank of the Susquehanna, in what is now Exeter, Luzerne county. Exeter bears the same relation to Wyoming that Concord, in Massachu- setts, bears to Bunker's Hill. Bunker's Hill became classical ground through the early struggles of the colonists, which began at Concord, and Wyoming's classical history dates from the Massacre, which had its beginning at Exeter, wherein two of Mr. Harding's ancestors were slaughtered. He died October II, 1789, aged 66. He commanded Fort Wintermoot in the Wyoming Massacre. He had nine sons and three daughters, of whom the eighth son, John, born about 1765, was the grandfather
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GARRICK MALLERY HARDING.
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of Garrick M. Harding, and the only survivor of that family in the Wyoming Massacre. The father's name was Isaac. He removed to Illinois in 1846, and subsequently was elected as one of the Judges of the County Court of Lee county. He died at Pawpaw Grove, Illinois, in 1854.
Garrick M. Harding attended Franklin Academy, in Susque- hanna county, and Madison Academy, at Waverly, and after- wards entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa. Being quick to learn, and possessing an active mind, he readily advanced to the highest place in his classes, and graduated with distin- guished honors. After leaving school, he began the study of law under the careful tutorship of Hon. Henry M. Fuller. This was in 1848. Two years later he was admitted to the Luzerne bar, on the same day with D. L. Patrick. The bar of Luzerne county at that time was conspicuous for the strength and ability of its members, among whom were the Hon. Geo. W. Woodward, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Hon. Luther Kidder and Hon. Oristus Collins, ex-Judges of the Court of Common Pleas ; Hon. Hendrick B. Wright, Hon. Henry M. Fuller, Lyman Hakes, Harrison Wright, and H. W. Nicholson, men of great acquire- ments and marked ability. The active energies that had served him so well in the elementary preparations of his chosen pro- fession aided him largely in subsequent legal battles, which demanded the clearest comprehension of law, and the most inti- mate familiarity with judicial methods. Of fine personal appear- ance, robust and ruddy; with an eloquence that never failed to magnetize, he was a power before juries, and this naturally secured for him a large and lucrative practice. From 1850 to 1856 he was in partnership with Hon. Henry M. Fuller. In 1858 he was elected District Attorney of Luzerne by the Republicans, after a hotly contested campaign, in which Gen. Winchester, a popular Democrat, was defeated by 1700 majority, although the county was largely Democratic. In 1865 he formed a partnership with his former student, Henry W. Palmer, now Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which continued until 1870. After a long and constantly developing practice, he was, on the 12th of July, 1870, his fortieth birthday, appointed by Governor Geary President " Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District, to fill a vacancy caused
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GARRICK MALLERY HARDING.
by the resignation of Hon. John N. Conyngham. In the fall of the same year he was unanimously nominated by the Republicans of Luzerne for the same position, and the successful issue of that campaign gave ample evidence of his popularity, he having defeated the late George W. Woodward, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, by a majority of 2365. On the bench, Judge Harding displayed those active qualities which had been a distin- guishing feature of his life, and the promptness with which he dispatched business, the constant attention he gave to the duties demanded, the fearless methods that he employed, all linked with an integrity of purpose that was undeviating, gained for him the highest respect of the bar, and the wide plaudits of the people.
Probably the most startling incident in Judge Harding's career was the attempt made by certain parties to impeach him in the early part of 1879. It was startling because it was a complete surprise to everybody. The friends of the Judge were, probably, annoyed to a greater extent than he was when the proceedings were instituted, and not a few of his political enemies looked with contempt upon the effort to disgrace him. The attempt at impeachment was widely commented upon in the leading press of the country, while the metropolitan editors joined in a universal condemnation of the movement. When it was first reported that a petition was circulating asking for Judge Harding's impeach- ment, none believed that the authors contemplated bringing the matter before the Legislature. The petition did not contain the name of a single member of the bar of either Luzerne or Lackawanna county, nor is there to be found on it the name of a single man of prominence, and with the exception of a very few which were fami- liar by reason of having been before him in the Court of Quarter Sessions, the names were not recognized as those of residents in this section. Mr. Ricketts, the prosecutor, had great difficulty in get- ting the petition before the Legislature. Not a single member of the Legislature from this county, of either political party, would touch it. The charges against Judge Harding bore upon their face the open evidence of their malignity, and at one time it was seriously questioned whether the mere publication of them did not in itself constitute the worst kind of a libel, that warranted immediate action. That Judge Harding courted the fullest and
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GARRICK MALLERY HARDING.
freest investigation, the following letter, addressed to Hon. Benj. L. Hewitt, Chairman of the General Judiciary Committee, proves:
My Dear Sir: Your favor of yesterday, inviting me to appear with counsel for the purpose of cross-examination of witnesses in the preliminary inquiry about to be made respecting charges preferred against me, involving both my personal and official character, is at hand. Allow me to thank you, and through you to thank the members of your committee also, for the courtesy thus extended.
My official duties at this time will not permit of my personal attendance, but my counsel, Gen. McCartney and Stanley Wood- ward, Esq., will appear in my stead.
I have but a single request to make in connection with the proposed inquiry, and that is, that your committee will allow my accuser the widest possible latitude for investigation consistent with your views of right in the premises.
Very respectfully, GARRICK M. HARDING.
April 1, 1879.
The committee gave the latitude requested. Mr. Ricketts did his best to bring some witness forward to swear that the charges of the petition were true, but all to no purpose. As one journal remarked at the time, "Not a single one of the charges preferred against Judge Harding, and declared by Mr. Ricketts to be sus- ceptible of proof, was established. Such an utter, complete, absolute failure was never before witnessed anywhere in a pro- ceeding aspiring to a dignity beyond that of a broad farce." The sub-committee of the House reported that there was no ground for impeachment in the case under the constitution and the laws. Their report was a virtual indorsement of the following editorial expression: "The case has had just such an ending as we pre- dicted it would have. Judge Harding stands fully and com- pletely vindicated of all the foul charges brought against him. It is eminently fitting that it should end in an ignominious fail- ure-a farce so broad as to cover with shame and confusion the men who instigated the proceeding."
In the fall of 1879, after nearly ten years of hard work on the bench, Judge Harding tendered his resignation as President Judge, to take effect on the first of January following. As he was quite earnest in his desire to retire, the Governor accepted
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HENRY MARTYN HOYT.
his resignation, and appointed Stanley Woodward, Esq., to fill the vacancy. Judge Harding at once resumed the practice of law, and he is at this writing busily engaged in the practice of his profession.
In private life, Judge Harding is generous and charitable; devoted to his family and his books; a faithful friend and an out- spoken opponent. In fine, he is a worthy representative of those men whose stout hearts and arms made the valley of Wyoming classical ground, and whose vigor of body and mind, force of character, and native integrity still bloom and flourish. among their children.
Judge Harding was married on the 12th of October, 1852, to Maria M., daughter of John W. Slosson, of Kent, Litchfield county, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Harding have had a family of three children, two sons and a daughter. John Slosson, his eldest son, is a graduate of Yale College, and is now a student at law in his father's office, and expects to be admitted to the bar in a few weeks. Harry, his youngest son, is in the Freshman class in Yale. The daughter, their eldest child, is the wife of William W. Curtin, only son of Hon. Andrew G. Curtin, ex-Governor of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Harding died January 27th, 1867, and the Judge has been a widower ever since.
HENRY MARTYN HOYT.
Henry Martyn Hoyt, now Governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, June 8, 1830. He is a descendant of Simon Hoyt, who was the first member of the Hoyt family who immigrated to New England. In Drake's "History of Boston," we find "Simon Hoyte" on the "List of the names of such as are known to have been in Salem and about the north side of the Massachusetts Bay before and in the year 1629." The name of "Simon Hoytt" appears on the first list of "such as took the oath of freemen" in Massachusetts, May 18,
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HENRY MARTYN HOYT.
1631. We find "Symon Hoite" mentioned in the Dorchester records in 1633. On the 8th of October, in the same year, "Symon Hoyte" was chosen one of that town's committee to "see to" fences " for the east fielde."
Walter Hoyt, son of Simon, born about 1618, was in Windsor in 1640. From there he went to Fairfield county, Connecticut, and was one of the early settlers of Norwalk, where the name was frequently spelt Haite or Hyatt. He was a fence viewer there in 1655, and a deputy to the October sessions of the General Court in 1658, 1659, and 1661. He was confirmed as sergeant of a company at Norwalk by the "General Court of Election, Hartford, May 19, 1659." He was a deputy in May and October, 1667, and one of the proprietors named of the town of Norwalk confirmed by the General Court in 1685. He died about 1698.
John Hoyt, son of Walter, was born July 13, 1644, at Windsor, Connecticut. He was a freeman in Norwalk in 1669. He removed to "Paquiack," or Danbury, before June, 1685. Rev. Thomas Robbins, in a century sermon, delivered in Danbury, January 1, 1801, says John Hoyt was one of the eight original settlers of Danbury in 1685. The births of five of his children are recorded at Norwalk from 1669 to '79 with the spelling Haite.
Thomas Hoyt, son of John, was born at Norwalk, January 5, 1674, and died before 1749, but was living in 1727.
Comfort Hoyt, son of Thomas, was born February 20, 1724. He lived in Danbury, and died May 19, 1812. His tombstone states that he and his wife "lived together in the married state . 62 y."
Daniel Hoyt, son of Comfort, was born May 2, 1756. He was a farmer; lived in Danbury, Conn., and Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa. He died in 1824. He was a freeman in Danbury in 1778. He removed to Pennsylvania about 1795.
Ziba Hoyt, son of Daniel, was born September 8, 1788, in Danbury, Conn. He afterwards removed to Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa., where he died, December 23, 1853. He was First Lieutenant of the "Wyoming Matross," an artillery organization connected with Col. Hill's Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. He left for the western frontier in 1813, and his bravery and coolness in the campaign about Lake Erie has become a matter of history.
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