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 28
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806
JOHN FRANKLIN EVERHART.
a matter of worth by those who knew him best. In all the lead- ing topics of the day he was a close observer, and in those calcu- lated for the general good he was deeply interested. He was an ardent supporter of the free school system, and before its day established schools at his own expense, in order that the rising generation of his neighbors might have the rudiments of a com- mon education. He was in no sense of the word a politician, though twice he represented his county in the legislature, the second time receiving the unanimous support of both the political parties. He was urged to accept a nomination to congress, which was equivalent to an election, and declined. In 1817 he married Mary M., the only child of Isaac and Catharine Templen. The union was blessed with eight children, of whom five survive. James M. Everhart, of Scranton, Pa., is the third son, and Isaiah F. Everhart, M. D., also of Scranton, is the youngest child.
John Templen Everhart, the father of the subject of our sketch, is the oldest of the children of James Everhart, and was born September 14, 1818. After receiving a common school educa- tion, he entered his father's tannery and learned the trade of a tanner. In 1851 he removed to Pittston, and purchased large coal interests and real estate. Everhart's Island, in the Lacka- wanna river, is one of his pieces of real estate. In private life he is generous and charitable, and devoted to his family. In 1841 he married Theresa A., the daughter of John Maguire, of Phila- delphia. One son was born to them, James, who died at the age of twenty-four in 1867, and his mother died at the same age in 1843. On May 12, 1853, he married Mary Leidy, the daughter of Jacob Leidy.
George Leidy, the father of Jacob Leidy, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pa., and was a wealthy farmer. Jacob Leidy carried on a mercantile business in Philadelphia for twenty years. He removed to Berwick, Pa., in the early part of the century. . He erected iron works, known as the Forge, in Nescopeck, carrying on a mercantile business at the same time. Subsequently he re- moved to this city. He died in Quincy, Illinois, October 12, 1857. He was a cousin of the father of Dr. Joseph Leidy and Dr. Philip Leidy, of Philadelphia. His wife was Elizabeth Rou-
807
HENRY CLAY ADAMS.
derbush, a daughter of George Rouderbush, who was born in 1776, in Berks county, Pa. He subsequently removed to Sellers- ville, Pa., where be became a wealthy farmer.
John Franklin Everhart, son of John T. Everhart, was educated in private schools, in the Princeton college preparatory school, and at Princeton college. He read law with George S. Ferris, at Pittston, and with Alexander Farnham, in this city. He is an unmarried man, and a republican in politics. His office is in Pittston. The above named place presents a broad field for the efforts of young attorneys. It is a large, prosperous, and grow- ing town, and, as the foregoing facts show, Mr. Everhart begins in it with an outlook that promises most satisfactorily. His ancestry, his collegiate training, and the well-known ability of his preceptors all combine to foreshadow victory in his battle with the complications and vicissitudes of the law.
HENRY CLAY ADAMS.
Henry Clay Adams was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county May 19, 1888. He is the son of Jacob Adams, of this city, who was born October 26, 1827, at Kertzenheim, Bavaria, Prussia. Mr. Adams emigrated to America and landed in New York Jan- uary 5, 1853. For the past thirty-five years he has been a resi- dent of Wilkes-Barre. The mother of H. C. Adams was Josephine Jacoby, daughter of Jacob Jacoby, who was born May 11, 1801, at Rhine Falls, Bavaria. He emigrated to America in June, 1840, and settled in this city in 1842, where he resided until his death, September 11, 1887. H. C. Adams was educated in the public schools of this city, and read law with Charles Dorrance Foster, of Wilkes-Barre. He is an unmarried man, and a democrat in politics.
Mr. Adams has had no " royal road to learning." His advan- tages have been only such as are open to every boy in these days of public schools and multiplied newspapers. He is not a " born genius," and has not startled anybody by precocious development,
808
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
but all who know him know that he has hung closely to his books, applied himself diligently to all the tedious routine of a beginner's life, and emerges from the ordeal well grounded in the principles of the law, and likely to become one of the most indus- trious and, therefore, most useful members of the profession.
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
Frank Warren Larned, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county May 21, 1888, is a descendant of William Learned and Goodith, his wife, who were admitted to the present First church of Charlestown, Mass., on October 6, 1632. It has been said, but whether upon good authority is not known, that William Learned came over in February, 1624 ; but this is improbable, since his son Isaac was born that month and his daughter Mary was buried in England in July, 1625. In the Charlestown records is a list of such as were admitted inhabitants of the town in 1630, and among them his name appears. His name also appears in a list of inhab- itants in 1633 and again in 1635 and in 1637. Shares of hay ground were assigned to him, and again a portion of marsh land February 11, 1637. In Wyman's Charlestown Gene- alogies seven different parcels of land are described which be- longed to him. In 1634 he was admitted a freeman. His name appears as one of the signatures to the town order for the appoint- ment of eleven selectmen February 13, 1635. On February 13, 1636, he was appointed a selectman. About this time he is men- tioned with twenty-eight others as having " willingly surrendered, for the good of the town, part of their land on Mystic side." In March, 1637, he was chosen one of four instead of goodman Brakenbury to divide for stinting the common land. In April, 1637, he and goodman Thomas Ewer were desired to lay out widow Wilkins two acres. About the same time he and several others were desired "to goe with Mr. Winthrop to lay out bounds between us and him.". At the time of the controversy, which originated with Mrs. Anne Hutchinson when the general court
809
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
condemned and banished Rev. John Wheelwright, William Learned was one of the signers of the remonstrance against that proceeding. In the minutes of the court it is recorded : "Willi. Larnet acknowledged his fault in subscribing the seditious writ- ing, and, desiring his name to be crossed out, it was yelded to him and crossed." February 12, 1638, it was referred to Mr. Greene and William Learned to settle Mr. Witherell's wages for the year past. William Witherell was the school-master. February 26, 1638, Mr. Learned with five others " were desired to consider of some things tending toward a body of laws." In 1640 a move- ment was on foot to settle Woburn. The first meeting for the purpose was held at the house of Mr. Thomas Greene on Decem- ber 18, and town orders were there signed by thirty-two persons, and among them by William Learned (spelled by the clerk Ler- nedt). He was one of the seven who, on August 14, 1642, founded the first church of Woburn. In April, 1643, he was chosen constable and one of the selectmen, and again in 1644-45. He died March 1, 1646. He was about fifty-six years of age at the time of his death. His wife survived him. The name (Lear- ned) has been varied much by the bad orthography of early times, as Lerned, Larned, Lernot, Larnit, etc., and many of his descendants now write it Larned, as does the subject of our sketch. It may rersonably be conjectured that the true spelling was " Learned " and that the true pronunciation was "Larned."
Isaac Learned, son of William Learned, was born February 25, 1623, in Bermondsey parish, county Surrey, England, and probably came with his father to this country when about seven or eight years of age. He probably went with his father, when about seventeen or eighteen years old, from Charlestown to Woburn. He married at Woburn, July 9, 1646, Mary, daughter of Isaac Sternes, of Watertown. She was born in England and came to America with her father in 1630 in the same ship with Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall, and settled in Watertown, near Mount Auburn. She was baptized January 6, 1626, in the parish of Nayland, county Suffolk, England, from which place her father emigrated. Isaac Stearns was admitted a freeman May 18, 1631, the earliest date of any such admission. He was selectman in 1659, 1670, and 1671. In 1647, with Mr.
810
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
William Biscoe, he had charge of the first bridge of which any mention is made over the Charles river at Watertown. In 1652 Isaac Learned sold his house and lands in Woburn and removed to Chelmsford, where he died November 27, 1657. His wife survived him and subsequently married John Burg, of Weymouth. Lands were repeatedly laid out for him in Woburn both before and after his father's death. He was chosen one of the select- men of Chelmsford in 1654, sergeant of the (train) band in 1656, a committee to lay out certain meadow lands January 11, 1656. He was also appointed a commissioner to decide small cases at Chelmsford. In the office of the secretary of state, Boston, is a petition signed by him for a grant of additional land to Chelms- ford, dated May 7, 1656. A petition from Woburn, signed by him, " Isaac Larnitt," and by others, is printed in Massachusetts Historical Collections in which the petitioners remonstrate against an order forbidding any person to undertake a constant course of preaching or prophesying without the approbation of the elders of the four next churches or of the county court. The Chelms- ford records contain several grants of land to him.
Isaac Learned, son of Isaac Learned, was born at Chelmsford September 29, 1659. He settled in Framingham, near the beau- tiful pond of thirty-six acres still called from him Learned's Pond. He was a soldier in Captain Davenport's company at the Narragansett fight and was wounded. He was received as an inhabitant of Sherborn in April, 1679 (Framingham not then being a town). He was on the committee to procure the act of incor- poration in 1699, and signed in that character the answer to the remonstrance from Sherborn. After the incorporation it was voted in town meeting August 21, 1700, that he and two others shall be the men to go and discourse with a lawyer about " our aggrieved neighbors." He was selectman in 1692, 1698, 1706, and 1711 and fence viewer in 1681-82. He died September 15, 1737. He married, July 23, 1769, Sarah Bigelow, a daughter of John and Sarah (Warren) Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow was a black- smith in Watertown, took the oath of fidelity in 1652, and was selectman in 1665, 1670, and 1671. He married October 30, 1642, Mary Warren. This is the earliest marriage found in the town records. John Warren came to America in 1630, aged
811
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
forty-five years. He settled in Watertown, and was admitted freeman May 18, 1631, and was selectman from 1636 to 1640. In 1635 he and Abraham Browne were appointed to lay out all highways and to see that they were repaired. In October, 1651, he and Thomas Arnold were each fined 20s for an offense against the laws concerning baptism. March 14, 1659, he was to be warned for not attending public worship, but " old Warren is not to be found in town." April 4, 1664, he was fined for neglect of public worship fourteen Sabbaths, each 5s=£3 IOS. May 27, 1661, the houses of " old Warren and goodman Hammond" were ordered to be searched for Quakers.
William Larned, son of Isaac Learned, was born February 12, 1688. He had moved from Framingham and had bought land in the north part of Killingly, Conn., in 1712. His name appears on the tax list of 1716. Sometime afterward he moved to Sutton. He was one of the original members of the church at Sutton, and in 1720 was on a committee to acquaint Rev. Mr. Mckinstry that the town had given him a call. He was admitted to the church in Thompson July 12, 1731, on a certificate from the church in Sutton. The parish of Thompson had formerly been the north society of Killingly, and had recently been organized as a parish. William Larned lived in this town, was chosen deacon June 7, 1742, surveyor of highways in 1729, selectman from 1740 to 1744, and town treasurer from 1742 to 1746. He died June 11, 1747. He married, November 24, 1715, Hannah Bryant, a daughter of Simon and Hannah Bryant, of Killingly, formerly of Braintree, Mass.
Ebenezer Larned, son of William Larned, was born March II, 1723. He was admitted to full communion in the church at Killingly July 12, 1747, and was for many years deacon in North Killingly ; was selectman in 1760. In a conveyance made to him in 1750 he is described as an innkeeper, and in a deed to him from his father in 1745 as a husbandman. He was one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Susquehanna Company, and took part in organizing it. His name is found on the deed from the Six Nations to lands in Wyoming. He died December 6, 1779. He married, December 28, 1749, Kesick Leavens, one of the eight daughters of Justice Joseph Leavens, of Killingly,
812
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
who was one of the first settlers of the town. Ruth Larned, a daughter of William Larned, brother of Ebenezer Larned, mar- ried Jedediah Marcy, of Southbridge, who became the mother of William Larned Marcy, who graduated at Brown University in 1808, was recorder of Troy, N. Y., 1816, adjutant general of New York, 1821, comptroller, 1823, justice of supreme court, 1829, U. S. senator, 1831, governor, 1833-1839, secretary of war, 1845-49, secretary of state, 1853-57.
Theophilus Larned, son of Ebenezer Larned, was born July I, 1758, in Killingly. He set out for Ohio in 1795, but stayed in Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1806. He then removed to Ontario county, N. Y., where he died in 1815. A. deed dated September 21, 1795, describes him as of Colchester, Ulster county, N. Y., and conveys to Ephraim Lockwood, of Luzerne county, Pa., a right in the Connecticut and Susquehanna Com- pany purchase, which he had received by inheritance from his father. He married, June 4, 1780, Patience Whipple, of Killingly. She died at Phelps, N. Y., February 27, 1849.
Amasa Larned, the eldest brother of Theophilus Larned, was a graduate of Yale College, a member of congress from 1791-95, and member of the constitutional convention to ratify the consti- tution of the United States, 1788. He was of a dark and swarthy complexion, which he used to say he inherited from the Leavens blood. While he was in college he wrote a Latin letter to his brother Theophilus, with postscript, " If you can't read this show it to Mr. Brown " (the clergyman at Killingly). In reply Theo- philus wrote him a letter in Indian, from the dictation of an Indian servant girl, Molly Piggins, with the postscript, " If you can't read this show it to some other Indian." His son, Ebene- zer Learned, was a graduate of Yale College, 1798. His grand- son, William Law Learned, of Albany, N. Y., is a graduate of Yale College, 1851 (LL. D., 1878), justice supreme court, pro- fessor in the Albany Law School, &c.
Theophilus Larned, son of Theophilus Larned, was born in Killingly in 1791, and removed to Wyoming when a young lad. He purchased a farm near the village of Wyoming, and married Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of David Smith. She was born at Wyoming. The wife of David Smith was Mrs. Lucy Murphy.
813
FRANK WARREN LARNED.
Her maiden name was Gore, and she was a daughter of Obadiah Gore. (See page 435 for a sketch of the Gore family.) Her husband, John Murphy, was killed in the massacre and battle of Wyoming. A son, George Murphy, was born in Esquire De- pew's barn, on the Delaware, near Stroudsburg, while she was a fugitive after the battle. She subsequently returned to Wyo- ming, and became the wife of David Smith. James Bidlack was born at the same place. His father was also killed in the battle. Theophilus Larned removed to Huntington township some years before his death.
Rev. George Marvin Larned, son of Theophilus Larned, was born at Wyoming March 8, 1834. He is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a member of the Central Pennsyl- sylvania Conference, and is now stationed at White Haven, in this county. The wife of Rev. G. M. Larned is Samantha Ben- scoter, a daughter of the late Warren Benscoter, of Union town- ship, in this county. The Benscoter family came from the valley of the Delaware. James, the grandfather of Warren, brought to Huntington five sons-Anthony, John, Abraham, Isaac . and Jacob. James, Anthony and Isaac Benscoter are in the list of taxables of Huntington township in 1796. Abraham Benscoter was the father of Warren Benscoter, the father of Mrs. Larned. The name is known in some localities as Van Scoten, but by the mixed dialects and nationalities of our country has lost the pe- culiarity which ever points to the original home of the family- Holland. The ancestors of the Benscoters were of the early low Dutch colonists, who contributed largely towards the European settlements in the valleys of the Hudson and Delaware rivers.
Frank Warren Larned, son of Rev. G. M. Larned, was born in Huntington township May 30, 1859. He was educated in the public schools of his native township, at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, and at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., from which he graduated in the class of 1880. He taught school for several years before his admission to the bar. He had charge of the Jeddo private school managed by the Jeddo Coal Company, and was principal of the Drifton schools in Hazle township. He was also principal of the Franklin street school in Plymouth. In 1883, 1884 and 1885 he had charge of the normal department
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814
DARRYL LAPORTE CREVELING.
and was assistant professor in mathematics in Dickinson Semi- nary. He read law in the office of Hubbard B. Payne in this city. Mr. Larned married, February 19, 1881, Helen Frances Kantner, of Ashland, Pa., daughter of Lewis Kantner. She died on the anniversary of her marriage one year later, leaving her husband and a son, Lewis Marvin Larned, born February 17, 1882, to survive her.
Mr. Larned has entered the profession of the law with evident intention to boldly attack and, if possible, overcome every obstacle that besets the path between ambition and attainment in the noblest of the professions. He has great energy and is indefati- gable in his efforts to invoke for his clients every advantage the law will allow. He gave some attention to newspaper work while a student and exhibited a capacity in that connection that by persistence would have brought profitable results. He enters the profession with every prospect of winning in it both a good name and a good livelihood.
DARRYL LA PORTE CREVELING.
Darryl LaPorte Creveling, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., June 18, 1888, was born in Fishing Creek township, Columbia county, Pa., October 7, 1859. He is a de. scendant of Andrew Creveling, who emigrated to this country from Germany with his wife and settled near Asbury, Warren county, N. J., where he engaged in farming. At the outbreak of the revolutionary war he entered the continental army and served all through the war. He was in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, and on that day his son, Samuel Creveling, the great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born. At the close of the war Andrew Creveling removed to Columbia county, and located near what is now Espytown, in Scott township, where he bought land and made improvements after the fashion of that day. At that time and for years there were no milling facilities closer than Sunbury, and he used to send his boys there with wheat to
815
DARRYL LAPORTE CREVELING.
be ground. They generally loaded about fifteen bushels in a canoe, "poling" to Sunbury and return. Andrew Creveling and his wife are buried in the Afton graveyard, near Bloomsburg, Pa. Samuel Creveling, son of Andrew Creveling, became a farmer, and purchased a place of three hundred and fifty acres. During the war of 1812 he was drafted, but several young men wanted to go in his stead, and he selected one as a substitute, who served in his place. His wife, whom he married in 1803, was Catharine Willets. John Creveling, son of Samuel Creveling, was the grandfather of the subject of our sketch. (See page 694.) D. L. Creveling is a son of Alfred Tubbs Creveling, and a brother of John Q. Creveling, of the Luzerne bar. Darryl LaPorte Crev- eling was educated in the public schools of his native township, at the New Columbus Academy, and at Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pa. He read law with his brother, J. Q. Creveling. He was a teacher for several years in Conyngham township, at New Columbus, in Salem township, in Huntington township, in Fishing Creek township, and in Plymouth borough, where he acted as principal of the Franklin street school. He married, February 9, 1887, Kate J. Hice, daughter of Jacob S. Hice and Esther A. Hice, of Harveyville, Pa. The father of Esther A. Hice is Daniel Jones, of West Pittston, Pa.
Mr. Creveling was in his twenty-ninth year when admitted, and in that fact has what has often proved an advantage to a be- ginner at the bar. Again, in line with many of his predecessors, he will profit by his experience as a teacher. Once before, in the preparation of these sketches, we have taken occasion to refer to the large number of men who go up from the school room to the court room. The transition is a natural one in many respects. The school term affords a livelihood and the vacation the time for the new study, and the information on gen- eral topics acquired in preparing to impart knowledge to pupils is beyond question a material aid in imbibing the principles and taking in the details of the law and its practice. Many school teachers have gone to the very front rank in the legal fraternity, and those who know Mr. Creveling believe him fitted for and wish him equal luck.
816
ALEXANDER RICKETTS.
ALEXANDER RICKETTS.
Alexander Ricketts was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county September 28, 1888. He was born in this city October 29, 1866, and is the eldest son of Agib Ricketts, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county January 6, 1857. (See page 105.) Alex- ander Ricketts was educated in the public schools of his native city, and read law with his father. His mother, Annie Elder Ricketts (nee Piper), was a daughter of Alexander M. Piper, born in 1786 in Bedford, Pa., and married in 1816 to Ann Espy Elder, a daughter of Samuel Elder, who was born Feb- ruary 27, 1772, and died at Harrisburg September 26, 1815. He was a soldier in the expedition westward in 1794, and held a position in the military establishment of 1798. He filled the office of sheriff of Dauphin county from October 23, 1800, to October 21, 1803. He married, March 7, 1793, Margaret Espy, daughter of Josiah Espy and Annie Kirkpatrick, daughter of William Kirkpatrick. George Espy, who married Mary Stewart, was a brother of Josiah Espy. The former was the ancestor of John Espy and Barnett M. Espy, of the Luzerne bar. Samuel Elder was the son of Rev. John Elder and his second wife, Mary Simpson, daughter of Thomas Simpson. Rev. John Elder was born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, January 26, 1706. He died July 17, 1792, in Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pa. In 1732 he was licensed to preach the gospel, and four or five years later he emigrated to America. He subsequently became the leader of the Paxtang Boys. He afterwards was appointed colonel by the provincial authorities, the date of his commission being July 11, 1763. He had command of the block-houses and stockades from Easton to the Susquehanna. His father was Robert Elder, born about 1679 in Scotland; emigrated from Lough Neagh, county Antrim, Ireland, where he had previously settled, to America, about 1730, locating in Paxtang township. He died July 28, 1746.
Mr. Ricketts joins the army of the law at a very early age. It , is rather unusual for one to have completed his studies and se-
817
WILLIAM LEWIS.
cured admission when not yet twenty-two years old, but in this instance a son, doubtless intended from the beginning to inherit the father's practice, has probably had, under the guidance of the father, more than the usual amount of training. Mr. Ricketts has already exhibited qualities that give good promise of his attaining success in his profession.
The foregoing pages contain the biographies of one hundred and seventy-eight lawyers who have always, or the greater part of their lives, resided in Luzerne county and practiced at its bar: Of these Howkin Bulkeley Beardslee (page 452), James Augustus Gordon (page 1), Henry Coffin Magee (page 532), Ziba Mathers (page 626), James Buchanan Shaver (page 696), Ebenezer Warren Sturdevant (page 14), and Hendrick Bradley Wright (page 2) have died since their biographies were written. We follow with biographies of those who were at one time practitioners here but who have removed and are now located at other points, and of those who have been separated from us by the division of Luzerne county from time to time.
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