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 35
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George Fuller, son of Edward Fuller, was born in Bozra, Conn., November 7, 1802. His wife, Mary Barnard, daughter of Samuel Barnard, was born in Boston, England. Mr. Fuller was clerk of the commissioners of Susquehanna county for three years and two months, from January, 1826. From 1835 to 1837 he was county treasurer, and from 1839 to 1842 he was prothonotary of the county. From 1843 to 1845 he represented Susquehanna, Brad- ford and Tioga counties in the congress of the United States. He died in Scranton November 24, 1888. Mr. Fuller while a resident of Susquehanna county was active as an editor and pro- prietor of several newspapers, amongst others The Montrose Ga- sette, The Susquehanna County Republican, The Susquehanna Register, The Independent Volunteer and The Northern Democrat. Mr. Fuller removed to Scranton in 1855 and continued to reside there until his death. He was an earnest and valued member of the Presbyterian church, and was one of the charter members of the Second church of Scranton, where he was always in his pew, accompanied by Mrs. Fuller, even in the worst of weather, when people of their age did not think of venturing out of doors. He was a man of keen business judgment, and was frequently consulted by younger men, even during the last years of his life. He could not stop doing business, and for several years previous to his death had been engaged in settling up the affairs of the suspended Trust Company and Savings Bank. Previous to that time he was in the mercantile business in company with his sons G. A. and I. F. Fuller.
Frederick Fuller, son of George Fuller, was born in Montrose
889
SILAS H. DURAND.
March 13, 1837. He was educated at the academy in Montrose and read law with Hon. F. B. Streeter, at Montrose, E. N. Wil- lard, Scranton, and with Earl Wheeler, at Honesdale, Pa., where he was first admitted to the bar. During the late civil war he was lieutenant of Company I, Fifty-second Regiment of Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, and acting signal officer in the Army of the Potomac. Since 1871 he has been one of the aldermen of the city of Scranton. Mr. Fuller married, June 6, 1866, Laura P. Gay, a daughter of John S. Gay, a native of Sharon, Conn. Her mother was Laura S. Hoskins, a native of Auburn, N. Y., whose father was Ebenezer Hoskins, a native of Groton, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller have a family of two children-Fred. Pardee Fuller and Theodore Sedgwick Fuller.
SILAS H. DURAND.
Silas H. Durand, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 20, 1860, is a native of Herrick, Bradford county, Pa., where he was born January 5, 1833. His father was Daniel Durand, who was born in Middletown, Orange county, N. Y., in 1793, and died in Herrick in 1870. The maiden name of his mother was Asenath Newbury, born in Warwick, Orange county, N. Y., in 1794; died in Herrick in 1877. Mr. Durand practiced law in this city until 1864, when he relinquished it and became a Baptist minister. He is now stationed at Southampton, Bucks county, Pa. He married, July 5, 1882, in Baltimore, Md., Clarice E. Pusey, a daughter of Edwin M. Pusey, a native of Lancaster county, Pa., where he was born March 11, 1822, and whose wife's maiden name was Mary Jane Patterson, also of Lan- caster county, where she was born November 6, 1824. Mr. and Mrs. Durand have two children-Edith Durand and Mildred P. Durand.
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CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
WILLIAM GIBSON JONES.
William Gibson Jones, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1861, is a son of Lewis Jones. (See page 826.) W. G. Jones was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, in October, 1837. He was educated at the Lu- zerne Institute, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and read law with his father, at Scranton, and with Peter McCall, in Philadel- phia. He practiced for a while in Scranton and subsequently removed to New York, where he now practices his profession. Mr. Jones married, in 1875, Lula V. Wakefield, a daughter of Ward H. Wakefield. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one son.
CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
Charles du Pont Breck, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 18, 1861, is a native of Wilmington, Del., where he was born May 18, 1840. The Brecks trace their ancestry from William de Breck, whose castle and estate was near Selborne, in Hampshire, England, and who was one of the barons before whom Adam Gurdon, the rebellious baron, was tried in 1274. Edward Breck of Rainford, or Ashton, Lancaster, England, was a descendant of William de Breck, and came to Dorchester, near Boston, about the year 1630. His son, John Breck, became eminent in Dorchester. He died February 16, 1713. The son of that gentleman was named after him, and became the parent of three sons and many daughters. The second son was named Samuel. He was born April 11, 1747, and died May 7, 1809. He sat for seven years in the house of representatives, from Bos- ton. The revolutionary war brought many French ships of the line into Boston-sometimes to refit and sometimes to escape the enemy. It became necessary, therefore, to have a permanent agent to collect supplies. The French honored Samuel Breck with that appointment, which he held until the peace, greatly to
,
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CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
the satisfaction of the several commanders with whom he held intercourse. He sold their prize goods, negotiated their bills of exchange, and furnished their ships of war with all they wanted. He entered upon this business about the year 1779. Before the revolution it was lawful to hold slaves in Massachu- setts, and Mr. Breck had three in his house-Waterford, a coach- man; Cato, a house servant, and Rose, the coachman's wife. Three greater plagues, as Mrs. Breck used to say, could not easily be found. He had a son, George Breck, who was the grand- father of Charles du Pont Breck. Samuel Breck, with his family, removed to Philadelphia, in 1792. Samuel Breck, a brother of George Breck, represented Philadelphia in congress from 1823 to 1825. His "Recollections," with passages from his note books, 1771-1862, were edited by H. E. Scudder, and published in Phila- delphia by Porter & Coates, in 1877. It contains this passage among others :
" DECEMBER 9, 1807 .- This morning I rode to Philadelphia, · and purchased a newly-invented iron grate, calculated for coal, in which I mean to use that fuel, if it answers my expectations. December 26, 1807 .- By my experiment on coal fuel I find that one fire place will burn from three to three and a half bushels per week in hard weather, and about two and a half in moderate weather. This averages three bushels for twenty-five weeks (the period of burning fires in parlors.) Three times twenty-five give seventy-five bushels for a single hearth, which, at forty-five cents, is thirty-three dollars and seventy-five cents, more than equal to six cords of oak wood at five dollars and fifty cents, and is, by con- sequence, no economy; but at thirty-three cents per bushel, which is the usual summer price, it will do very well."
The wife of George Breck was Catharine Israell. Her father was a resident of Philadelphia, his family having come to this coun- try from the West Indies, where they were large planters, and came here on account of political troubles. William Breck, son of George Breck, was born at Bustleton (now in the city of Philadelphia), and was a manufacturer on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, Del., where he married Gabriella Josephine du Pont. the daughter of Victor du Pont, who was the son of Pierre Sam- uel du Pont de Nemours, member of the institute of France,
892
CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
councillor of state, and knight of the Order of Vasa, of the Legion of Honor, and of the Order du Lys. Endowed with rare vigor and acuteness of mind, devoted to truth, an elevated constancy, and an indefatigable spirit of benevolence, worthy of the best days of ancient times, he devoted himself to the service of his country and his species. So pure was his patriotism, and so dis- interested his motives, that his time, his means and his talents were continually engaged in the prosecution of those great ends, regardless of the opportunities of improving his fortune and of personal aggrandizement, which his eminent political employ- ments presented to him. In the course of a long life spent in public stations his incorruptible integrity shone conspicuously. Conversant with courts, and daily mixing in the affairs of the world, his character retained to the last its original warmth of feeling and simplicity-a trait as rare as it is extraordinary, which always led him to regard events in the most favorable light, and to repose in mankind a faith which is seldom to be found but in the unsuspicious, confiding temper of youth. To this primitive and benevolent cast of mind is to be attributed that kindness of heart and constantly playful cheerfulness which accompanied him to the last moments of his life, and gave an endearing charm to the affection with which he was regarded by his friends. He was an early and most distinguished writer on political economy, before it had yet attained the rank of a science. In the year 1772, the principles of philosophy and political economy displayed in one of his publications, Les Ephemerides du Citoyen, being obnox- ious to the French minister, the Duke de Choiseuil, he was obliged, like other great men in that epoch, to go into exile. Several foreign princes, then distinguished by the liberality of their sentiments, offered him an asylum. The Margrave of Baden appointed him conseiller intime aulique de legation ; Leopold of Tuscany (afterwards Emperor), and Joseph II corresponded with him; Gustavus III of Sweden decorated him with the Order of Vasa; and the king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus, appointed him his director of national education. This last situation, which presented the most advantageous prospects to himself and family, he relinquished to accept an inferior station in the service in his native country, at the invitation of his intimate friend, the great
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CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
and good Turgot, at that time minister of finance to Louis XVI. In 1782 he was commissioned by M. de Vergennes to correspond with Dr. James Hutton, the confidential and secret agent of the king of Great Britain, and arrange with that gentleman the secret basis of the peace of 1783, by which the independence of the United States was acknowledged. He was for many years inspec- tor and commissary general of commerce and manufactures, and councillor of state. In these different capacities he greatly con- tributed to extricate France from the shackles by which a false policy had restrained her. In 1787 and 1788 he was appointed by the king secretary of the Assembly of Notables, and in 1789 was elected a member of the first national assembly, where he distinguished himself by his talents, his sound principles, and his firmness. He devoted himself to counteract the factions of the day, whose intrigues and plots disgraced the French revolution, and prostrated the hopes of those who wished to see France regenerated, free and happy. He was twice elected president of that celebrated body, which combined in itself a greater portion of preëminent talents than has ever been exhibited in any other legis- lative assembly. His political opinions were those of modera- tion; his object the improvement of government without violence. He opposed the abettors of anarchy with a courage and active energy bordering on temerity. When a horrible tyranny stalked through France, and levelled in its progress the great and the good, M. du Pont could not expect to escape. He was perse- cuted and imprisoned, and after several imminent dangers, his life was only preserved by the downfall of Robespierre. Subsequent to that event, and when the reign of terror had ceased, he was elected, under the Directory, a member and later president of the Council of Ancients. The Jacobins having succeeded in overturning the Directory in Fructidor, 1798, he left France and for the first time visited America. In 1802 he returned to France, and when Napoleon lost sight of the cause of freedom by which he was elevated, and considered only his personal ambition in causing him- self to be nominated consul for life, and then emperor, du Pont de Nemours pursued steadily the principles which had guided him through life by abstaining from any participation in the gov- ernment. But the confidence of his fellow citizens followed him
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CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
into the recesses of private life, and his appointments to the presi- dencies of the Banque Territoriale and the chamber of commerce, and his election to numerous charitable institutions, of which he was an active and conspicuous member, mark the extent of that confidence and the sincerity of their regard. At the first abdica- tion of Napoleon, du Pont de Nemours was appointed secretary of the provisional government, which accepted the house of Bour- bon in the hope of thereby securing to France a more free con- stitutional government. Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba, he emigrated a second time to the United States, where his two sons had been naturalized many years. He left in France a wife, highly distinguished by her eminent virtues, and in this country a numerous posterity, to lament his loss. To those who looked up to him, not only as the best and kindest of parents but as a bright example for their imitation, it is a consolation to reflect that his last moments were spent in the midst of his chil- dren, and that his venerable relics repose among them, in the land of freedom, which, next to his native country, was the object of his warmest affection. Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont was a brother of Mrs. Breck.
William Breck removed to Scranton in 1859, and became the representative of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., for the Lacka- wanna and Wyoming regions, in the powder business. He died in 1870. Charles du Pont Breck, son of William Breck, was educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1859. He read law with Victor du Pont, in Wil- mington, and Sanderson & Willard, at Scranton, and has practiced in Scranton since his admission. He was the first controller of the city of Scranton. He is a director of the Lackawanna Trust Company, president of the Ridge Turnpike Company, director in the Carbondale and Providence Turnpike and Plank Road Com- pany, and a director in the Scranton Suburban Railway Com- pany. Mr. Breck married, April 29, 1869, Mary Duer, a daughter of John King Duer, of New York.
Mrs. Breck is the great-grand-daughter of William Duer, who was born in Devonshire, England, March 18, 1747. He was the third son of John Duer, a planter of Antigua, who had a villa in Devonshire. His mother was Frances Frye, daughter of Sir
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CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.
Frederick Frye, who had a command in the West Indies, where she married John Duer. After being sent to Eton, and while still under age, he went into the army as an ensign and accompanied Lord Clive as aid-de-camp on his return to India as governor general in 1762. He remained in India a short time, when he returned to England and left the army. He then went to Antigua and thence to New York in 1768. While in America he was in- duced to buy a large tract of land at Fort Miller, on the upper Hudson. He was appointed colonel of the militia, judge of the county courts, member of the New York Provincial Congress and member of the committee of safety. He was one of a com- mittee that drafted the first constitution of New York in the con- vention of 1777. In 1777-78 he was a delegate to the continental congress and in 1789 secretary of the treasury board. He was a member of the state legislature and assistant secretary of the treasury under Governor Hamilton. His wife was Catharine Alexander, daughter of General William Alexander, claimant of the Scottish earldom, of Stirling. Mr. Duer died in the city of New York May 7, 1799. The grandfather of Mrs Breck was Will- iam Alexander Duer, son of William Duer, who was born in Rhinebeck, N. Y., September 8, 1780. He studied law in Philadelphia and for a few years was a midshipman in the navy under Decatur. He afterwards resumed his law studies and was admitted to the bar in 1802. In 1814 he was elected to the state assembly. From 1822 to 1829 he was a judge of the Supreme Court of the state of New York. In the latter year he was elect- ed president of Columbia College, where he remained until 1842. He was the author of the life of his grandfather, William Alex- ander, Earl of Stirling (New York, 1847). Mr. Duer died in New York May 30, 1858. His wife was a daughter of William Denning, of New York. The father of Mrs Breck was John King Duer, son of William Alexander Duer, a captain in the United States navy. Mr. and Mrs. Breck have one son, Duer du Pont Breck.
Scranton had scarcely emerged from the wilderness when Charles du Pont Breck entered upon his career there as an attor- ney at law, so that he has been a Scrantonian, practically, since its beginning. He has been intimately identified with many of
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ALBERT MARION BAILEY.
its most important institutions and contributed a full share toward its remarkable growth and prosperity. Though inherit- ing the best blood from both father and mother, he had no "royal road to success" prepared for him. His education had been fair ; his surroundings were those in which both energy and industry are essential to profitable achievement. But he had industry and tact and a thorough knowledge of his profession. He was con- tent to make haste slowly and, as a result, finds himself in middle life in comfortable circumstances and with an enviable reputation as a lawyer and citizen.
His election as controller came immediately after the creation of that office. He was the first to fill it and put its machinery in operation and ran it so successfully that at the close of his term he was the recipient of deserved and unstinted praise from the press and people of all parties. This was the first and only office to which he ever aspired. His general business connections, as will be noted from the mention already made of a portion of them, are extensive, and no little of the success that has attend- ed the several enterprises is due to the careful thought he has given to their management and the shrewd counsel evolved there- from.
His reputation has always been that of a man of high honor, whether in official, general business, or professional life. His trusts, public or private, have always been administered with scrupulous regard for every interest involved. In private life he is an enjoyable companion, with a flow of genial humor and a capacity as a conversationalist that are a joy to his many friends.
ALBERT MARION BAILEY.
Albert Marion Bailey, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., February 25, 1862, is a grandson of Benjamin Bailey, a native of Connecticut, who removed to Luzerne county on or about 1800. His wife was Lydia Gore. He was treasurer of Luzerne county in 1821. Benjamin Franklin Bailey, son of Ben-
897
IRA CANFIELD MITCHELL.
jamin Bailey, was born in Norwich, Conn., October 14, 1797. He came here with his father's family early in 1800. After arriving at manhood, he settled in Plains township and married Catharine Stark, daughter of Henry Stark. The second grate for burning anthracite coal in Luzerne county was put up by Mr. Stark in , 1808. B. F. Bailey was a justice of the peace in this county for over twenty years. In 1843 he was appointed one of the " seven years auditors." He died in this city in 1883. Albert M. Bailey, son of B. F. Bailey, was born in West Abington, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, September 16, 1837. He was educated at Madison Academy, Harford University, New York Central Col- lege, and State and National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He read law with E. L. Dana, of this city, and has practiced law in this city and in Florida. In 1867 he was the republican can- didate for district attorney of Luzerne county, but was defeated by Hon. D. L. Rhone, democrat. He married, December 19, 1867, Lucinda Colt Lewis, a daughter of the late Sharp Delaney Lewis, of this city. She is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey had no children. A few years since Mr. Bailey removed to Orange City, Florida, where he now resides. In 1884 and 1885 he was mayor of that city.
IRA CANFIELD MITCHELL.
Ira Canfield Mitchell, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 7, 1862, is a native of Howard, Centre county, Pa., where he was born April 16, 1833. He was educated in the public schools of his native township, and at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pa. He studied law with N. L. Atwood, at Lock Haven, Pa., and was admitted originally at Bellefonte, Pa., April 28, 1854, on motion of A. G. Curtin. He has practiced at Bellefonte, in this city, in Iowa, Texas, Kansas, and now at Wellsburg, W. Va. He has held the offices of notary public, United States commissioner, deputy district attorney of Luzerne county, Pa., under Ezra B. Chase, and assistant attorney general of Kansas. He was aid to Governor William F. Packer, of Pennsylvania,
898
ALBERT BEECHER HOTCHKISS.
with the rank of colonel. He was the democratic nominee for congress in 1864, in the Fourth Iowa district, and received 10,502 votes, but was defeated. In the same year he was presidential elector at large for the state of Iowa on the democratic ticket. He was a candidate at the recent election (1888), for the legis- lature of West Virginia, and had a majority in Brooke county, but was defeated by a small majority in Hancock county. Ira C. Mitchell is a grandson of William Mitchell, a native of Franklin county, Pa., whose wife was Ann Johns, born in Harford county, Md., and son of Nathan Johns Mitchell, a native of Washington county, Pa. He was a minister of the gospel in the Christian church for fifty-nine years and died December 10, 1886. His wife was Sarah Bye Packer, sister of Ex-Governor William F. Packer, born at Howard, Pa., a daughter of James Packer, a native of Ches- ter county, Pa., whose wife was Charity Bye, a native of the same county. Ira C. Mitchell married, March 22, 1855, Melissa Edgar, a native of Allegheny county, Pa., daughter of James W. Edgar. He married (second) March 19, 1868, Sophia P. Elliott, a native of Bradford county, Pa., a daughter of C. S. Elliott. He married (third) January 10, 1880, his present wife, Mary A. Darrah, a native of Clinton county, Pa., and daughter of Charles T. Darrah. Mr. Mitchell has five children-Edgar Challen Mitchell, Nathan Johns Mitchell (married to Rebecca Vandersloot, and have one son, Ira Canfield Mitchell), Charity Ann Mitchell, John Packer Mitchell and Jane Atwood Mitchell. Ira C. Mitchell became a Christian in Iowa, in 1864, and since that time has been engaged in preach- ing the gospel, depending chiefly on the profession of the law for a livelihood. He is the senior member of the law firm of Mitchell & Braddock, of Wellsburg, W. Va.
ALBERT BEECHER HOTCHKISS.
Albert Beecher Hotchkiss was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 18, 1862. He is the grandson of Joel Hotchkiss and his wife, Esther Beecher, natives of Cheshire,
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AARON AUGUSTUS CHASE.
Conn., who emigrated to Harford, Susquehanna county, where they remained until their decease. Richard Hotchkiss, son of Joel Hotchkiss, was the father of A. B. Hotchkiss. The wife of Richard Hotchkiss was Hannah Briggs. A. B. Hotchkiss was born in Harford, June 20, 1839. He was educated in the common schools of his native township, and at Harford University. He was a teacher in this county for a few years, and subsequently read law with Hendrick B. Wright, in this city. After practicing in Wilkes-Barre for a few years, he removed to Cleveland, O., and from there to San Diego, Cal. While residing in the latter place he was district attorney of San Diego county, and attorney for the city of San Diego. He subsequently removed to Colton, Cal., where he was president of the Colton Land and Water Com- pany, and a trustee of the city of Colton. He was also a candi- date for congressman-at-large on the prohibition ticket, in 1882. Mr. Hotchkiss now resides in the city of Los Angeles, Cal.
AARON AUGUSTUS CHASE.
Aaron Augustus Chase, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., August 20, 1862, is a native of Benton township Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, where he was born March 28, 1839. His grandfather, Gorton Chase, emigrated to Penn- sylvania from Rhode Island in 1817, and settled in Abington township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county. Joseph Chase, son of Gorton Chase, was born in Providence, R. I., and came to Pennsylvania with his father's family. He is the father of A. A. Chase. The mother of A. A. Chase was Mahala Phillips, a daughter of Aaron Phillips, who settled in Abington township at an early day. Mr. Chase was educated in the public schools of his native township, and at Madison Academy, at Waverly, Pa., and read law with David R. Randall. He married, October 12, 1862, Laura E. Stiles, a daughter of George M. Stiles, of Har- ford, Susquehanna county, Pa. She died May 2, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Chase had no children. A. A. Chase was the editor and proprietor of the Scranton Daily Times from 1872 to 1885, and
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