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 24
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wards of the Wyoming National bank, for over thirty years, and is the president of the First National bank of Wilkes-Barre. He was for many years superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school of Plymouth, and now occupies the same position in the Central Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school, of this city. A marked characteristic of Mr. Wadhams, and one which has been developed in many generations of the family, is industry, which he recognizes as the key to success in life under any and all cir- cumstances.
The wife of Elijah Catlin Wadhams, whom he married October 7, 1851, and mother of Moses Waller Wadhams, is Esther Taylor - (French) Wadhams. She is the daughter of the late Samuel French. He was born July 6, 1803, in Bridgeport (then called Newfield), Conn., and came with his mother and stepfather, John Smith, to Plymouth in 1808, who, in connection with his brother, Abijah Smith, were the pioneers in the coal business in this val- ley. In 1807 Abijah Smith commenced mining, and in 1808 John Smith purchased the coal designated in the deed from William Curry, jr., on a tract of one hundred and twenty acres, known as "Potts of Coal," adjoining his brother's land. This mine was soon after opened, and workings have been uninterruptedly con- tinued ever since. Abijah and John Smith were partners in the coal business for many years. The mother of Mrs. E. C. Wadhams was Lydia Wadhams, a daughter of Moses and Ellen (Hendrick) Wadhams, son of Rev. Noah Wadhams. After the death of Moses Wadhams she married Joseph Wright, and became the mother of the late C. E. Wright, and H. B. Wright and Harrison Wright, all of whom became members of the Luzerne county bar. The grandfather of Samuel French, of Plymouth, was Samuel French, who was of Weston, Conn., in 1766. He served during the Revolutionary war in that division of the American army engaged about Lake Champlain. He married, April 16, 1766, Sarah, daugh- ter of Nathaniel Hall, who died February 17, 1774. The father of Samuel French, of Plymouth, was Samuel French, who was born in Weston, Conn., February 17, 1774. He married, April 15, 1798, Frances Holberton, daughter of William and Eunice (Burr) Holberton, of Stratfield, Conn. She was a descendant of William Holberton, who came from Devonshire, England, probably in
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1700 or 1701, and settled in Boston, Mass. He married, April 4. 1701, Mary, daughter of John Fayerweather, of Boston, and his second wife, Elizabeth Dicksey. He died probably in 1716. John Fayerwcather was the son of Thomas Fayerweather, who came to America, perhaps in the fleet with Winthrop, and settled in Boston, Mass. His name stands No. 101 in the First church list of one hundred and fifty-one members, who had joined in full communion with the church previous to October 10, 1632. He married Mary -. He died in 1638. John Fayerweather, only surviving child of Thomas and Mary Fayerweather, was born August 8, 1634. He married, November 15, 1660, Sarah, daughter of Robert and Penelope Turner, of Boston. He mar- ried, in 1674, as his second wife, Elizabeth Dicksey, and his third wife November 17, 1692, Mary Hewes, who survived him. Cap- tain John Fayerweather was a prominent man in Boston. He served in the Indian war of 1675-76 and commanded one of the Boston train-bands. He was one of the selectmen of Boston from 1678 to 1688; was one of the Boston representatives to the gen- eral court during 1680-1700. At the revolution of 1689 he was appointed commander of the castle (Castle William, on Castle Island, now Fort Independence). He died April 13, 1712. Ben- jamin Fayerweather, son of John and Sarah (Turner) Fayer- weather, was born in Boston, removed to Stratfield, Conn., pre- vious to 1695. . He married Sarah Sherwood. Their daughter, Mary, married John Holberton. Mary Fayerweather, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dicksey) Fayerweather, married, April 4, 1701, William Holberton. John Holberton, son of William and Mary (Fayerweather) Holberton, was born in Boston September 10, 1712. He removed from Boston to Stratfield, Conn., about 1738. He married, September 13, 1738, Mary, daughter of Ben- jamin and Sarah (Sherwood) Fayerweather, of Stratfield. He died June 21, 1750. William Holberton, son of John and Mary (Fayerweather) Holberton, was born in Stratfield, Conn., August 15, 1740. He married Eunice Burr, daughter of Captain John Burr and his wife Eunice Booth. Eunice Booth was a daugh- ter of Joseph Booth, who was a son of Richard Booth and his wife, Elizabeth Hawley. Eunice Burr was a descendant of Jehue Burr. He came with Winthrop's famous fleet in 1630, and on
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his arrival settled in Roxbury, Mass. He was the first of his name in America, so far as we have any record. He was admitted a freeman in 1632. In 1635 both himself and wife appear as members of the church in Roxbury. About the same time he received his first appointment in the colony, as overseer of roads and bridges between Boston and Roxbury. At a general court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, held at Boston August 6, 1635, " Mr. Tresur [treasurer, an official title], Jehue Burre, and John Johnson were appointed a committee for Rocksbury," and a like number of men for Boston, " in the making of a cart-bridge over Muddy River and over Stony River, at the charge of Boston and Rocksbury." His name also appears in the records of a general court held at Newtown March 1, 1635, as follows: "The differ- ence betwixt Mr. Dumer and Jehue Burre aboute Mr. Dumer's swine spoyling his corne is by their consent referred to the final determination of William Parke, Goodman Potter, and Goodman Porter." No further mention is made of him in the Massachu- setts records. He did not, however, long remain a resident of Roxbury. Opportunities there for rising in the world were far too limited to suit one of his enterprising turn, and in company with several other aspiring spirits he early determined on a fur- ther emigration. The settlers had often heard from the friendly Indians of the rich valley land of the Connecticut, several days journey west, and early in the spring of 1636 William Pynchon, Jehue Burre, and six other young men " of good spirits and sound bodies," with their families and effects, set out on a journey through the wilderness to this land of promise. The women and children performed the journey on horseback and the men on foot. They followed a blazed path through the forest that led them over wooded heights, through romantic glades, and across foaming torrents, now skirting the shores of an ancient lake, where the beaver reigned undisturbed by man, and again follow- ing the westward current of a placid river, until at last they issued from the forest upon the banks of the Connecticut Here they built their village, which they called Agawam, and which in our day has expanded into the flourishing city of Springfield. William Pynchon, Jehue Burr, and Henry Smith, by deed bear- ing date June 15, 1636, purchased the land of the Indians, being
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" all that ground on the east side of Quinnecticut River, called Usquanok and Mayasset, reaching about four or five miles in length from the North end of Massacksicke up to Chicopee River." These new settlers seemed to have considered them- selves beyond the bounds of the Massachusetts colony and to have joined their fortunes with Connecticut at once, as at the general court of the latter for that year William Pynchon appears as deputy for the plantation of Agawam, and indeed for several sessions afterward. Also the next year, 1637, Jehue Burre, who is described as a leading spirit in the settlement, was appointed collector of rates therein. He was probably the first tax gath- erer in the Connecticut valley, and was appeased with lesser rates than are some of his successors. From the act of the legis- lature appointing him we learn that there were then but four settle- ments or "plantations " in the Connecticut colony-Hartford, Windsor, Wethersfield, and Agawam. Of this levy Agawam's apportionment was £86, 163., payment optional "in money, or in wampum, at fower a penny, or in good and merchantable beaver at 9s. per pound." Jehue Burr remained an active and useful member of the society at Springfield for about eight years, and then removed for the third and last time to Fairfield, Conn., which had been dis- covered a few years before, during the famous pursuit of the Pe- quots, and which, with its level lands and warm, productive soil, was very attractive to the early settlers. He seems to have taken a high rank at Fairfield from the first. The next year after his removal, in 1645, he represented Fairfield at the general court, again in 1646, and for several succeeding sessions prior to the union of the Hartford and New Haven colonies. As early as 1643 commissioners had been appointed by the New England colonies for the founding and maintenance of good schools and other places of learning in their midst, and in 1666 a plan was presented for "a generall contribution for the mayntenance of poore scollers at Cambridge college." The commissioners re- ferred it to the several general courts as " a matter worthy of due consideration and entertainment," and it was so considered at the October session of the general court of Connecticut, which ordered " that the propositions concerning the scollers at Cambridge made by the sd Commissioners, is confirmed, and it is ordered that two
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men shall be appoynted in every Town within this jurisdiction, who shall demand what every family will give, and the same to be gathered and brought into some room, in March, and this to continue yearely as yt shall be considered by ye Commissioners." The men appointed to this praiseworthy work for "Uncowau " (Fairfield) were Jehu Bur and Ephraim Wheeler. In 1660 he was appointed grand juror, with twelve other important men of the colony, and as such was ordered by the general court "to inquire into and consider of ye misdemeanors and breaches of ye orders of this Colony, and present all offences to ye next Partic- ular Court." , The succeeding May he was appointed commis- sioner for Fairfield, and ordered to repair to a magistrate and take the oath. He was re-appointed May 12, 1664, and again in 1668. This was his last public service. He died in 1672. We have no record of his marriage or of the maiden name of his wife. Nathaniel Burr, son of Jehue Burr, was born, probably in Spring- field, about 1640. He was made freeman in 1664, in Fairfield. He was constable in 1669, and was a representative in 1692-93- 94-95. He had several grants of land from the town. He died in 1712. Colonel John Burr, son of Nathaniel Burr, was born in Fairfield in 1673, and held his first public office in the colony in 1704, during Queen Anne's war, as commissary of the county. The commissary, it is proper to note, was an officer to whom varied and arduous duties were entrusted. He was to take and keep fair accounts of all public charges which should arise in his county by reason of the war, and to provide for the soldiers en- gaged in the public service. He was also to send orders to the several towns to provide two pounds of "biskett" for every listed soldier of such town, which was to be made of the country's wheat received for rates, but if there was none of this in the county, then wheat was to be impressed on a warrant from an assistant or justice. He was further expected to have such a stock of supplies on hand that in case of a sudden call to arms the public safety should not be endangered thereby. At the next court, in May, 1704, he appears as deputy from Fairfield, and was continued in this office almost continuously until 1724. In 1723 and 1724 he was elected speaker of the house. He was appointed auditor in 1717, 1720, and 1725. He was appointed
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justice of the peace and Quorum in 1711 and nearly every year thereafter until 1725. He was assistant continuously from 1729 to 1742. He was judge of the county court from 1726 to 1743, and also judge of the probate court during the same years. He was several times commissioned in the military service of the colony. In 1710 he was appointed major of the forces engaged in the brilliant expedition to Port Royal, Nova Scotia. This ex- pedition proved highly successful. With the aid of the British fleet Port Royal was taken and named Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne. In his character as a military man, as well as in his civil capacity, he was several times entrusted with difficult and dangerous commissions for the state. In 1733 he was ap- pointed one of the judges of a court of chancery. He was ap- pointed colonel, and was probably one of the largest land-owners . in the state. Colonel Burr was one of the principal founders of the old North church, of Stratfield (now the First Congregational of Bridgeport). He was also a principal subscriber at the organi- zation of the St. John's Episcopal church, in 1748. He died in 1750, and his estate was valued at £15,288, an immense sum in those days. John Burr was the son of Colonel John Burr. Captain John Burr, of Bridgeport, son of John Burr, was born June 13, 1728, and married, April 1, 1750, Eunice, daughter of Joseph Booth, and Eunice Booth, daughter of Joseph Booth and Eunice Burr, daughter of Captain John Burr, married William Holberton, and lived to be eighty-eight years of age. She died in 1838. Colonel Aaron Burr, vice president of the United States, was a descendant of Jehue Burr in the fifth generation, and J. E. Burr, of the Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county bar, is also a descend- ant of Jehue Burr in the eighth generation.
Moses W. Wadhams was prepared for college at the classical school of W. R. Kingman, in this city, and then entered Dart- mouth college, at Hanover, New Hampshire, from which he graduated in the class of 1880. He read law with E. P. and J. V. Darling, of this city, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county October 10, 1885. He is an unmarried man and a repub- lican in politics. Samuel French Wadhams, of the Duluth, (Minn.) bar, is a brother of M. W. Wadhams. Mr. Wadhams has had every advantage that good birth and the abundant means
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of fond parents could supply. His general education, as will be noted, has been of the best, and his legal preceptors are of the safest guides to the careful and ambitious student. Mr. Wad- hams makes no pretence to oratory, and does not seek to figure in the courts, but as an office lawyer and adviser gives promise of taking a front position. In the race for distinction, as a rule, the highest places are reserved for those whose perceptive and retentive faculties have been trained by long and arduous study, and Mr. Wadhams, as has been said, having put to the best use his unusually good educational advantages, will win an enviable position in his vocation.
THOMAS CHALMERS UMSTEAD.
Thomas Chalmers Umsted was born at Faggs' Manor, Chester county, Pa., October 10, 1862. He is a descendant of Nicholas Umstat, who died at Crefeld, Germany, October 4, 1682. Au- gust 16, 1685, Hans Peter Umstat, son of Nicholas Umstat, bought of Dirck Sipman, of Crefeld, two hundred acres of land in Penn- sylvania, and soon after set sail in the Francis and Dorothy with his family, consisting of his wife Barbara, his son John, and his daughters Anna, Margaretta, and Eve, for Philadelphia, where he arrived October 12, 1685. He afterwards bought other lands in Pennsylvania, and died subsequent to October 14, 1710. His wife Barbara died August 12, 1702. His daughter Eve mar- ried Henry Pannebacker, the ancestor of Samuel W. Pennypacker, of Philadelphia, who has in his possession the family bible of Nicholas Umstat. Peter Schumacher, the ancestor of George B. Kulp, also came over at the same time and on the same vessel- the Francis and Dorothy. John Umstat, son of Hans Peter Umstat, lived at Skippack, now in Montgomery county, Pa., and had several children. From which of John Umstat's children Thomas Chalmers Umsted is descended it is impossible at this time to state. His great-grandfather, John Umstet, was a native of Skippack, and was a tanner by trade. He married, while a
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resident of Montgomery county, Catharine Boyer, a sister of Gen- eral Philip Boyer (father of Benjamin Markley Boyer, president judge of the thirty-eighth judicial district of Pennsylvania), who was an officer in the war of 1812 and sheriff of Montgomery county, Pa., from 1822 to 1828. John Umstet subsequently removed to Brandywine township, Chester county, Pa., where his son John was born. His wife was Catharine Harner, daugh- ter of Abraham Harner. The name of Abraham Harner's mother was Catharine Airgood. John Umsted was a builder, and removed to Philadelphia when quite a young, married man, and resided there during his lifetime. He was a prominent member of the Eleventh Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, and died at an early age. He was one of twelve men who constituted the organization of the Eleventh Presbyterian church, now the West Arch Street Presbyterian church.
Rev. Justus Thomas Umsted, D. D., son of John Umstat, was born in Brandywine township, Chester county, Pa., January 22, 1820. He received his collegiate education at the University of Pennsylvania and his theological education at Princeton Seminary. His fields of labor have been : stated supply at South Bend, Indiana, 1848-9; pastor at Muscatine, Iowa, 1850-3; pastor at Keokuk, Iowa, 1855-8; pastor at Selma, Alabama, pastor at Faggs' Manor, 1860-72; pastor at Saint George's, Delaware, 1872-6; and pastor at Smyrna, Delaware, from 1877 to the present time. He is a forcible and faithful preacher, and as a presbyter diligent in the discharge of his duty. The divine blessing has accompanied his ministry.
The wife of Rev. Dr. Umsted is Isabella McMinn Umsted. The father of Mrs. Umsted was the late John Wilson, a resident of Philadelphia, and principal book-keeper in the Presbyterian board of publication from its organization until his death. He was an eminent christian and a deacon in the Seventh Presbyterian church of Philadelphia. During the war of 1812 he was a lieu- tenant of a company, which was stationed at Fort Mifflin for its defense. His father was John Wilson, of Paisley, Scotland, an exile on account of his non-conformity to the Anglican or es- tablished church. After emigrating to this country he settled in Freehold, N. J., and afterwards moved to Philadelphia, where he
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followed his occupation as a ship builder. The wife of John Wilson, sr., was Helen Napier, of Edinburgh, Scotland, a daugh- ter of Dr. Napier, an eminent physician in his day. The wife of John Wilson, jr., was Isabella McMinn, daughter of John McMinn, of Belfast, Ireland, who removed to this country about 1773, and was among the Presbyterians of Ulster who in such large numbers emigrated to this country on account of political and ecclesiastical proscription and persecution.
Thomas Chalmers Umsted was educated at West Nottingham Academy, Cecil county, Md., and Princeton college. He studied law with E. Coppee Mitchell, and at the same time attended the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in the class of 1886. He was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia November 6, 1886, and to the bar of Luzerne county December 4, 1886.
A veteran member of the bar, who should be a good judge of character, in going over a list of the younger members with a view to calculation as to which of them were most likely to take the places of the leaders when they shall have gone, hit upon Mr. Umsted as, in his opinion, one of the most promising. He has excellent natural abilities, is an ardent student, and possesses " the genius of industry," than which, as an eminent statesman once said, " there really is no other genius." Mr. Umsted is a democrat in politics, but has as yet taken no conspicuous part in party matters. He attends strictly to business, a course by far the best calculated to make the profession attractive and profit- able.
MARLIN BINGHAM STEPHENS.
Marlin Bingham Stephens was born near the village of Dilltown, Indiana county, Pa., May 10, 1860. His great-grandfather, Benja- min Stephens, was a native of England, and emigated to the United States before the revolutionary war. He located in Maryland, where his son Samuel Stephens was born, and who removed to Brush Valley township, near the site of Mechanicsburg, Indiana
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county, Pa., and was one of the earliest settlers of that county. William S. Stephens, son of Samuel Stephens, was born in Brush Valley township, near the town of Mechanicsburg, in 1808, and is the father of the subject of our sketch. The mother of Marlin B. Stephens is Sarah A .. Stephens (nee Skiles). She is the great- granddaughter of James Skiles, who emigated from the north of Ireland to Cumberland county, Pa., in 1780, and from there, in company with Ephraim Wallace, also a native of Ireland, in 1800, to the Conemaugh, in Indiana county. There John Skiles, son of James Skiles, married a daughter of Ephraim Wallace, and had a son Ephraim Skiles, whose daughter became the wife of William S. Stephens, and is the mother of the subject of our sketch. Ephraim Skiles' wife was a daughter of Isaac Rogers, whose father, Robert Rogers, came from Ireland and settled on the banks of the Conemaugh at a very early date. Ephraim Skiles, shortly after his marriage, settled on a farm near Black Lick Furnace, in East Wheatland township, where he lived and raised a large family of children. Marlin B. Stephens spent his youthful days on his father's farm. When of proper age he at- tended normal institutes in Indiana and Cambra counties, and soon commenced teaching, which occupation he followed for three years. He then attended the Mount Pleasant (Westmore- land county, Pa.,) Classical and Scientific Institute, where he pre- pared himself for the study of the law, and soon after the com- pletion of his studies there entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, graduating from there in the class of 1886, with the degree of LL. B. On passing a satis- factory examination in open court, for the twenty-second judicial district of the state of Michigan, he was duly admitted to practice in the circuit and supreme courts of that state. He then returned to his native state and was admitted to the bar of Wyoming county April 12, 1887, and to the Luzerne county bar May 16, 1887. Mr. Stephens is an unmarried man and a republican in politics. He has opened his office in Ashley. He is another of the numerous class who have used the profession of school teach- ing as a stepping-stone in climbing to the bar. Judging by the success of the average man thus fortified in experience and labor it is very evident that Mr. Stephens will, with reasonably good
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fortune attending his efforts, forge his way to profitable useful. ness as a lawyer. He is by nature eminently endowed with the requisite qualifications for the successful practice of the law, and, being inclined to develop them, will, undoubtedly, succeed.
GEORGE PECK LOOMIS.
George Peck Loomis is a native of Wilkes- Barre, Pa., where he was born May 1, 1859. He is a descendant of Joseph Loomis, who was probably born about 1590, and was a woolen draper in Braintree, Essex county, England ; sailed from London April 1I, 1638, in the ship Susan and Ellen, and arrived at Boston July 17. 1638. It is mentioned in the records at Windsor, Conn., that he bought a piece of land in that town February 24, 1640. He, there- fore, probably came to Windsor in the summer or autumn of 1639, and is generally supposed to have come in company with Rev. Ephraim Huet, who arrived at Windsor August 17, 1639. He brought with him five sons and three daughters.
Deacon John Loomis, second son of Joseph Loomis, was born in England in 1622, admitted to the Windsor church October 11, 1640, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Scott, of Hartford, February 3, 1649, was representative 1666, 1667, 1675, 1676, and 1677, resided at Farmington from 1652 to about 1660, returned to Windsor, was deacon of the church, and died September 1, 1688. His monument is still preserved in the Windsor burying-ground. Thomas Loomis, third son of Deacon John Loomis, was born December 3, 1653. He married Sarah, a sister of Captain Daniel White, March 31, 1680. He died August 12, 1688. Thomas Loomis, of Hatfield, Mass., second son of Thomas Loomis, of Windsor, was born April 20, 1684. He married Elizabeth Fowler January 8, 1713, and died April 30, 1765. Lieutenant Thomas Loomis, of Lebanon, Conn., the only child of Thomas Loomis, of Hatfield, Mass., was born in 1714. He married No- vember 7, 1734, Susanna Clark. He died February 27, 1792.
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