USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. II > Part 22
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John Derr, eldest son of Michael Derr, was born near Spring- town, Bucks county, Pa., September 4, 1802. He left his home at an early age and engaged in the business of milling and later in life in that of constructing bridges, having built Milford and Frenchtown bridges across the Delaware river, and at other times was engaged in the lumber business on the Delaware river. In 1834 he married Hannah Fein, youngest daughter of John Fein, Esq., and Catharine Melick, his wife, of Finesville, N. J. In 1849 he removed with his family to Northumberland county, having purchased a farm there, and resided in that county until his death in 1864. Rupp, in his history of the Pennsylvania Germans, says that a ship was driven into the capes of the Delaware by stress of weather in 1704 which had intended to go to New York with its ship-load of emigrants, who proposed to settle in that state. Among those people was supposed to be Philip Fein, the ancestor of the Fein family, who, in common with many of the other people of the ship, started overland from Philadelphia to cross the then unknown wilds of northern New Jersey to reach New York. Having reached the banks of the Musconetcong river, in what is now Hunterdon county, N. J., Mr. Fein, with his brother John, appreciating the advantages of the stream as a water power and the fertility of the soil, determined to settle there instead of pursuing his course any further through the forest, which then covered the whole country. Mr. George Brakeley White, of Cumberland, Md., in his chronicles of the Brakeley family says that when his ancestor arrived in 1705 on the Musconetcong he found the Fein family already established there. The following is taken from his narrative: "The first
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Philip Fein settled upon the tract of land where the village of Finesville has since been built about the year 1700. Like all the early German land holders in this locality he held his estate by virtue of an Indian title, which was subsequently confirmed to his sons Philip and John by the Lords Proprietors. This son Philip, who married for the second time, in 1805, Mrs. Brakeley, and who gave his daughter Catharine in marriage to young Mr. Brakeley, was born July 15, 1744. He was a man of wealth and influence in those early days. His name, as well as that of his brother John, appears amongst the signers of the constitution of the St. James' Lutheran church, of Greenwich, N. J. (commonly known as the Straw church, on account of the first edifice having been thatched with straw), in 1770, and he ever took a deep interest in its welfare. His business ventures were fortunate. He erected a dam on the Musconetcong river and built an oil mill, a grist mill, and a saw mill. They were the largest mills in Lopatcong (the general name for the district) and the earliest of which there exists authentic accounts. Mr. Fein died Sep- tember 4, 1810, and was buried in the Straw church grave-yard. His sons inherited this valuable property and for many years conducted an extensive business in grain." His son John, born in 1767, died in 1826, married Ann Catharine Melick, the daugh- ter of Captain Andrew Melick, and became the father of a large family, of which the youngest child was Hannah Fein, mother of Andrew F. Derr.
Johannes Mölich was a native of Bendorp, Germany, an ancient town of four thousand people, four miles below Coblentz, where he was born October 28, 1702. He emigrated to America in the ship Mercury, William Wilson, master, arriving in Philadel- phia May 29, 1735. He brought with him ready money and considerable furniture, some large pieces of which are now in the possession of Andrew D. Melick, jr., of Plainfield, N. J. He was a man of some education, as is shown by preserved correspond- ence and legal documents. Tradition asserts that he remained ten years in Pennsylvania. In 1747 he appears as owning land in Sussex, now Warren county, N. J., and in 1750 was living on Rockaway creek, in Readington township, Hunterdon county, N. J., where he had established one of the earliest tanneries
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in North America. He was, up to his death, trustee and church warden of Zion Lutheran church, at New Germantown, Hun- terdon county, N. J. In 1751 he bought three hundred and sixty-seven acres of land fronting on the north branch of the Raritan river, in Bedminster township, Somerset county, N. J. Here he established another tannery and erected a substantial stone house, which is occupied by one of his descendants. Cap- tain Andrew Melick, son of Johannes Mölich, emigrated to this country with his father, and was but six years of age at the time of his arrival in this country. He became a well-known citizen of his adopted state, and was mustered in as captain in the first regiment of the continental line of the New Jersey troops on the 4th day of July, 1776, and served through the war, and finally died at the ripe old age of ninety-one years, honored and res- pected by all who knew him.
Both the Feins and Melicks were leading members of the St. James' Lutheran or "Straw" church, and the communion list from the foundation of the church until their deaths shows them to have been in regular and constant communication with its sacraments and holy work. In common with many of the early settlers of New Jersey the Feins and Melicks were slave-holders. Though the negroes were held as slaves, yet they appear to have been accorded a very much larger measure of freedom than was given such persons in the south, and even after they were freed, by either the operation of the law or voluntarily by their masters, they continued to live on the lands of their former masters and worked for wages for them. Mrs. Hannah Derr had many childish reminiscences to narrate of the old black men Cæsar and . Pompey, who were freedmen in her father's household in her childhood days.
John and Hannah Derr were the parents of Thompson Derr, Mary Catharine, married to John P. Richter, Henry H. Derr, John F. Derr, and Andrew Fein Derr. Both John and Hannah Derr died in April, 1864, the mother on the 2d of April, followed by the father on the 26th, leaving Andrew not quite eleven years of age. In the following autumn he was sent by his guardian to Selinsgrove, Pa., where he lived with his sister, who resided there with her husband-John P. Richter, of that place-and
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there attended school at the institute and prepared for college. In the fall of 1871 he entered the freshman class at Lafayette college, Easton, Pa., and graduated with his class in June, 1875, taking the degree of A. B. The following year was spent at his alma mater in pursuing extra studies, to which there was not time to give attention during the regular course, in modern lan- guages, history, and general literature. In the summer of 1876 he registered as a law student in the office of George R. Bedford, but in October of the same year he left his office and entered as a student in the office of Hon. George W. Biddle, in Philadelphia, at the same time taking lectures in the law school of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, which was then adorned by the scholar-" ship and learning of the late E. Coppee Mitchell. Finding, how- ever, that the ready and thorough course of instruction which Mr. Biddle afforded his students was amply sufficient to cover all the ground gone over in the law school, he concluded to come up regularly before the board of examiners of the Philadelphia bar for admission to that body in the fall of 1878. He passed his examination and was admitted to the bar October 28, 1878, being admitted to practice in the four Courts of Common Pleas and the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia county at that time. A month later, having decided to locate his permanent residence at Wilkes-Barre, he came to this county and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county December 2, 1878, and engaged in the practice of law in this county, which he pursued until the fall of 1882, when, owing to the failing health of the senior partner of the firm of Thompson Derr & Bro., he entered that firm, since which time he has given his attention exclusively to fire insur- ance, together with several private enterprises in which he is engaged. Mr. Derr is a director of the Miners' Savings Bank and also of the Anthracite Bank in this city. He is a trustee of the Memorial Presbyterian church, is one of the directors of the Osterhout Free Library, of Wilkes-Barre, and is also an active member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society and has served as its treasurer.
Mr. Derr is a man of excellent natural abilities, and the educa- tional advantages above detailed being grafted thereupon, fitted him for a high place at the bar had he chosen to adhere to the
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practice of his profession. The insurance business established by his brothers is, however, one of the largest in this section of the state. It had small beginnings, but Thompson Derr & Bro. was one of the earliest firms in that line in Wilkes-Barre. By close attention and patient perseverance the confidence of the best companies in all parts of the country was secured, and a vast aggregate of insurance was placed by them on properties in all parts of the state. Large profits were yielded, and it was natural that, being offered an opportunity to take a leading place in such a business, Mr. Derr preferred doing so to undergoing the labor and submitting to the trials that must be borne before even the best equipped attorneys can hope to control a paying clientage. Those who know him best feel, however, that his decision has lost to the bar one who might have taken place among its lead- ing ornaments. His knowledge of the law and his practice thereof are necessarily an advantage to him in the insurance business, as well as to those who have dealings with him in that line. Mr. Derr is a democrat in politics, and, while never har- boring the thought of seeking or accepting office, has done effii- cient committee and other gratuitous work for his party on many occasions. He is a gentleman of many attractive qualities, always affable, generous, and, by reason of these and other attractive social endowments, is a great favorite in the best society wherever inclination or business takes him.
WILLIAM ALONZO WILCOX.
William Alonzo Wilcox was born in the village of Olean, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., July 25, 1857. He is a descendant, in the ninth generation, of Edward Wilcox, of Portsmouth and Kingstown, R. I.
Edward Wilcox, in 1638, was one of the free inhabitants of the island, then called Aquidneck, now Rhode Island, and joined in forming the civil combination or compact of govern- ment May 28 of that year. He had a trading house at Narra-
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gansett, in partnership with Roger Williams, about this time. At some time thereafter Richard Smith, sr., of Gloucester- shire, England, more recently of Taunton, Mass., joined with them. Wilcox probably died at Narragansett before 1648, and in 1651 Roger Williams, to raise funds to defray his expenses to England for the second charter, sold to Smith the trading house, his two big guns, and the small island near Smith's house which had been granted him by Canonicus a little before his death. In 1653 Smith seems to have acted as guardian for eight children, probably those of Wilcox, among whose sons were Stephen and Daniel. From Daniel have come a host of the name in south- eastern Massachusetts.
Stephen Wilcox, a son of Edward Wilcox, was born about 1633, and was of Portsmouth, R. I., in 1655. Early in 1658 he married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Hazard, of Portsmouth. Mr. Hazard was a ship carpenter, who came from Wales to Bos- ton about 1635. He espoused the weaker side in the famous Hutchinson controversy, and with Nicholas Easton and Henry Bull, both afterwards governors of Rhode Island, and fifteen others, all prominent citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was first disarmed, then driven, by their triumphant opponents, from Massachusetts. They determined to make their new home on the Delaware, and sent their household goods by ship around Cape Cod, going overland themselves to Providence, where they expected to embark for the Delaware country. But at Providence they were induced by Roger Williams to take up their abode upon Aquidneck. Westerly was settled in 1661. In May, 1669, when the town was incorporated, Stephen Wilcox was among the free inhabitants. He was one of the first delegates from Westerly to the general assembly, and was again elected in 1672. In 1670 John Richards, treasurer of Harvard college, charged him with having " seazed, possessed, planted and now living upon with his adherents, land in Stonington [Westerly intended], on the east side of Pawcatuck river, bounded with a parcel of land laya out to Thomas Prentis on the West, with the sound on the South, on the East with Wecapauge, and on the North with Common land," which Richards claimed as the property of the college. This interstate controversy, for it was
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a question of jurisdiction and boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, lasted a number of years, and was finally determined in favor of the Rhode Islanders. The old Wilcox farm, near Watch Hill, part of the tract described, is still owned and occupied by descendants of Stephen. In a paper dated Feb- ruary 6, 1689-90 he is mentioned as deceased. His children were Edward, Thomas, Daniel, William, Stephen, Hannah, and Jeremiah.
Edward Wilcox, son of Stephen Wilcox, was born about 1662, married, first, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Brownell) Hazard, by whom he had four children-Mary, Hannah, Stephen, and Edward. In 1698 he married Tamzin, daughter of Richard Ste- phens, of Taunton, Massachusetts, by whom he had six children- Sarah, Thomas, Hezekiah, Elisha, Amy, and Susannah. January 6, 1686, he (of Misquamicut, alias Westerly) sold to Isaac Law- ton sixty acres in Portsmouth for £135, which was described as bounded partly by land of his grandfather, Thomas Hazard. In 1688 he was appointed to look after horses not belonging to in- habitants. In 1693 he was delegate to the General Assembly. December 29, 1714, he was one of the grand jury. On the 15th of November, 1715, administration on his personal estate was granted to his widow, Tamzin. The town council authorized the widow, after paying debts, to draw forth £50 for her trouble in bringing up children that are under age. She was to have her choice of the best room in the house and a third of the income of real estate; the eldest son, Stephen, to enter forth- with into possession of rest of house, and the orphans to have the rest of the moveables, according to law. In the inventory are thirty-one head of cattle, nine horses, and twenty-two of swine, which, with books, pewter, and gun, amounted to £283, 3s.
Stephen Wilcox, son of Edward Wilcox, who was left in possession of the homestead, married, July 12, 1716, Mercie, daughter of Matthew and Eleanor Randall, of Westerly. His will, now lying before us, contains matters of creed and religion not often inserted in wills nowadays, but common then. It is- dated January 1, 1753, in the twenty-sixth year of his majesty's reign, George the Second, king of Great Britain, etc. "Principally, and first of all," he recommends his soul to God that gave it ;
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his body to the earth in christian burial, nothing doubting the general resurrection, at which he is to receive the same again by the mighty power of God. Bequests are made to his two older sons, David and Stephen, and to his daughters, Mercie and Unice. The homestead is divided between Valentine and Isaiah, and the widow given the residue. The widow and Isaiah are made executors. The children of Stephen were David, Mercie, Unice, Stephen, Valentine, and Isaiah.
Rev. 'Isaiah Wilcox, youngest son of Stephen and Mercie (Randall) Wilcox, was born about 1738, and married, October 15, 1761, Sarah, daughter of John Lewis, of Westerly. The " Third Church of Christ in Westerly " was organized in 1765. It was always popularly known as the " Wilcox church, " from the name of its principal pastors. The constituent members were Isaiah Wilcox, Elisha Sisson, David Wilcox, Valentine Wilcox, James Babcock, Mercy Lewis, and Austris Dunbar. The following sketch of Rev. Isaiah Wilcox is from a chapter on this church in Denison's Westerly, page 126: "The first pastor of the church was Rev. Isaiah Wilcox, who was baptized in February, 1766, and ordained February 14, 1771. He was a man of full habit, broad features but fair face, and weighed three hundred pounds. Possessing a sonorous voice and excellent powers of song, he made a strong and happy impression. He was a good man, an able preacher, and devoted to his work. Deservedly he enjoyed a wide and precious reputation. Under his ministry, in 1785, occurred a great reformation, which continued for nearly three years, and during which more than two hundred persons were added to the church. The work was remarkably powerful in 1786. The honored pastor died of small-pox, incurred by a compassionate visit to a suffering townsman, March 3, 1793, at the age of fifty- five years." He had twelve children, of whom Isaiah was the eldest. He was succeeded in the pastorate by his son, Rev. Asa Wilcox, of whom Mr. Denison says: "Besides ministering to this he often preached in the 'Hill church' and in the regions round about, for his ability was in much demand. He was a man of ordinary stature, handsome presence, excellent voice, pleasing address, and readiness of powers. In his day he held an enviable rank as a preacher, hence his good name and influ-
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ence still freshly survive in all the churches to which he minis- tered. He finally removed and labored in Connecticut. He died in Colchester, Conn., in 1832. His remains, about twenty years afterwards, were removed to Essex, Conn., a field of his labor, and laid by the side of the Baptist church, and honored by a chaste monument." His manner of preaching was calm; his sermons logical, clear, and strong. His personal popularity was great, and several large revivals attest the success of his ministry. Another pastor of the church was Rev. Josiah Wilcox. The first deacon was Stephen Wilcox, a brother of Isaiah. Oliver Wilcox and Lieutenant Governor Edward Wilcox were among the members.
Deacon Isaiah Wilcox, eldest son of Rev. Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Westerly January 31, 1762-3. When the Revolutionary war broke out he was too young for service, being but about fourteen years old. He enlisted, however, in a home guard, made up, possibly, like the patriot band at Wyoming, of " chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the republic." The force was commanded by Colonel William Pendleton, and marched to New London, Stonington Point, Newport, and other towns on the coast, engaged in frequent skirmishes, preventing the landing of British vessels, capturing small vessels, and doing efficient service in the defence of the coast. He had been stimulated by his father to a love of that liberty Americans prize so highly, and all he could do to secure it he did. He married, January 22, 1788, Polly, daughter of Colonel William Pendleton, a young lady whose lovely character and useful life did credit to the excellent family of which she came. They were married by Rev. Isaiah Wilcox. In 1792, in company with his brother Nathan and his family, he removed to Danube, Herkimer county, N. Y., and undertook a settlement in the dense forest. He had been there but a year or so when his log cabin took fire and burned to the ground with very nearly its whole contents. He rebuilt it and prospered. He enjoyed the comforts of religion for more than sixty years, and was emphatically a shining light in the commu- nity. In politics he was earnestly democratic. He died at New- ville, Herkimer county, July 13, 1844, at the advanced age of
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eighty-two years, six months. His children were Polly, Isaiah, William Pendleton, Asa, Lydia, Nancy, and Nathan Pendleton.
Colonel William Pendleton, father of Mrs. Isaiah Wilcox, was a descendant of Major Bryan Pendleton through the following line : Major Bryan Pendleton was of Watertown, Sudbury, and Portsmouth. He was many years selectman and representative ; made his will August 9, 1677, which was probated April 5, 1681. He left a widow, Eleanor, a son, James, and a daughter, Mary. Captain James Pendleton was one of the founders of the first church at Portsmouth, 1661, was a justice of the peace, and served in the war against Philip, 1676. He married for his second wife Hannah, daughter of Edmund Goodenow, by whom he had a son Joseph and other children. Edmund Goodenow was a resident of Sudbury. He came in the ship Confidence from Southampton, England, in 1638. He was made freeman May 13, 1640, was representative in 1645 and again in 1650, and was a leader of the militia. He died in 1676. Joseph Pendleton, born December 29, 1664, at Sudbury, was married, by Rev. James Noyes, July 8, 1696, to Deborah, daughter of Ephraim Miner, of Stonington, Conn. Colonel William Pendleton, sr., of Westerly, was born March 23, 1704, and was married, by Rev. Ebenezer Rossiter, March 10, 1725-6, at Stonington, to Lydia Burrough, of Groton. Colonel William Pendleton, eldest son of Colonel William last mentioned, was baptized August 13, 1727. He was married, by Rev. Nathan Ellis, April 25, 1751, to Mary Chesebrough. Their second daughter, Polly, born November 14, 1766, at Stonington, it was who married Deacon Isaiah Wil- cox.
Mary Chesebrough, wife of Colonel William Pendleton, jr., was a descendant of William Chesebrough as follows: William Chesebrough came from Boston, county Lincoln, England. He was born about 1594, married Anna Stevenson December 15, 1620, and arrived in Boston, Mass., in 1630, with Governor Win- throp. He was among the earliest members of the first church of Boston, and was admitted a freeman May 18, 1631. He re- moved to Pawcatuck, where he was the earliest permanent white settler. He was a representative in 1653, 1657, and 1664. He died June 9, 1669. His son Samuel Chesebrough, born
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April 1, 1627, in England, by his wife Abigail, had (sixth child) a son, Elisha Chesebrough, born April (or August) 4, 1667, who had a son Jabez Chesebrough, father of Mary, who became the wife of Colonel Pendleton. The wife of Jabez Chesebrough was his second cousin Priscilla Chesebrough. Nathaniel Chesebrough, son of William, was born in England January 25, 1630. He mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Captain George and Bridget (Thomp- son) Denison. Their son, Samuel Chesebrough, married Pris- cilla, granddaughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. Samuel and Priscilla Chesebrough had a daughter Priscilla, who married Jabez Chesebrough, as above stated.
Polly Wilcox, eldest daughter of Deacon Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Colchester, Conn., January 4, 1789, married Isaac Brown, November 22, 1806, and had sons, Rasselas and Isaac. The three sons of Rasselas are, Hon. Jefferson L. Brown, of Wilcox, Elk county, Pa., banker, surveyor, and lumber merchant ; Colonel William Wallace Brown, LL. D., M. C., of Bradford, lawyer ; and Major Isaac B. Brown, of Corry, lawyer.
Colonel William Pendleton Wilcox, second son of Deacon Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Danube May 31, 1794. He married, in 1814, Betsey Payne, by whom he had three children-two daughters and one son. He afterwards married Esther Swift, by whom he had no children. He was a farmer and merchant, served in the war of 1812, was sheriff of Allegany county, N. Y., associate judge of Elk county, Pa., speaker of the Pennsylvania senate, and member of the Pennsylvania house of representatives. He died at Port Allegheny April 13, 1868. His only son, Hon. Alonzo Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., March 22, 1819. About 1842 he engaged in the lumbering business at Portland Mills, and at what is now Wilcox, Elk county, Pa., and became one of the largest manufacturers and dealers in the state. The flood of 1861 swept away the profits of years, and he turned his attention to railroad contracting and later to oil. It is within the bounds of truth to say that there can scarcely be mentioned an important project or enterprise in his section of the state inaugurated for the benefit of the public in which he has not been one of the originators or most active promoters. The Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, the Jersey
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Shore & Pine Creek road, the Rochester, Nunda & Pennsyl- vania Railroad, the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua Railroad, the Equitable Pipe Line Company, and the Tide Water Company may be mentioned among them. With some of them he is still connected. He held the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Geary, and has been twice a member of the Pennsylvania legis- lature, more recently having been sheriff. of Mckean county. He has one child living, a daughter, the wife of Ernest H. Koester, of the Mckean county bar.
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