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 39
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DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
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Maggie Edwards, May Edwards, Annie Edwards and Harry M. Edwards. Mr. Edwards read law in Scranton with F. W. Gunster, and since his admission has been prominent as a law- yer, and also distinguished in politics. In the Garfield campaign his services were greatly in demand and he stumped the states of Ohio, Indiana and Maryland in the interest of the Republican national ticket. Twice he has been called into the state of Ohio in state campaigns. Mr. Edwards' aptness for political dis- cussion and his effectiveness on the platform have often caused him to be suggested as a candidate for various offices in the county, and during the past two years he has been prominently mentioned as a candidate for judge and for congress. He never was a candidate for office, however, until 1885, when he received the nomination for district attorney. He was elected by a ma- jority of nearly twelve hundred votes, and in 1888 was renom- - inated without opposition and elected. Mr. Edwards has earned an excellent reputation in literature, particularly among the Welsh people, in whose Eisteddfods he has taken great interest, winning, up to the time when he entered into the business of the law, over fifty prizes for poems and other literary work presented at these Eisteddfodau. He is a fluent, forcible writer, in prose and verse, and there can be no question that if he had not taken up the law for his profession he could have made his mark in literary pursuits.
DAVID UNGER.
David Unger was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 16, 1871. He practiced for a while in Scranton, and now resides at Danville, Pa.
DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
Daniel Webster Rank, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., February 19, 1872, is a descendant of Philip Ranck,
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DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
who was a resident of Earl township, Lancaster county, Pa., early in the last century, and whose parents came from Alsace in 1728. The next in line of descent was Philip Adam Ranck. Philip Adam Ranck had a son Adam Ranck, who in 1790 removed to a farm which he bought in what is now White Deer township, Union county, Pa., where he died. Daniel Rank, son of Adam Ranck, lived and died in Union county. He was a farmer and blacksmith. His wife was Catharine Heckel. Joseph S. Rank, oldest son of Daniel Rank, was born in Union county, December 20, 1807. He married, December 30, 1830, Catharine McGin- ness, of Union county. In 1836 he removed to Limestoneville, Montour county, Pa. Daniel W. Rank, son of Joseph S. Rank, was born February 16, 1835, in Union county, and until he was twenty years of age worked on the farm of his father. In 1855 he began reading law in the office of Robert Hawley, of Muncy, Pa. He was admitted to the Lycoming county, Pa., bar April 24, 1859. He then opened an office at Millersburg, Dau- phin county, Pa., where he practiced his profession until August 31, 1861, when he enlisted in Company D, Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry. On October 9 he was made sergeant ; on November 18 was promoted to sergeant major, and on June HI, 1864, by order of the secretary of war, was mustered back to May 1, 1863, as first lieutenant of Company M, same regiment. On August 31, 1864, he was made acting assistant adjutant gen- eral for the detachment, First Brigade, Second Cavalry Division, then at Columbia, Tenn., and was subsequently appointed to the command of the detachment to guard Sherman's line of transpor- tation. He remained in this duty until December 16, 1864, when he was mustered out on account of ill health, not accepting a commission as captain, dated September 15, 1864, which had been sent him. On his retirement from the army he went to his home, and was unable to engage in any occupation until the early part of 1872, when he removed to Scranton. He practiced there for ten years, during which time he was commissioned by Gov- ernor Hartranft district attorney of the mayor's court of Scran- ton. In 1882 he returned to his former home in Limestoneville, and in the fall of 1884 he was elected district attorney of Mon- tour county. Mr. Rank married, May 12, 1875, Mary Catharine .
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DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
McKune, daughter of Robert H. McKune, of Scranton. Mr. McKune is of Scotch and Irish descent, his great-grandfather, Robert McKune, having emigrated from Scotland and settled in Orange county, N. Y., in 1762, in which county the family, with the exception of Robert H., has since resided. Robert H. McKune was born in Newburg, N. Y., August 19, 1823. His father dying when he was three years of age, he was taken in charge by his grandfather, Robert McKune. He left his studies at the age of thirteen and commenced active life by entering the boot and shoe store of George Mecklam. After remaining one year he united himself with a relative, Henry Schenck, of New Bruns- wick, N. J., who carried on the same class of business, and with whom he stayed two years. Having always had a desire for personal independence, he concluded to learn a trade. His widowed mother had been carrying on a baking business in New- burg, and thither he repaired to join the comforts of home with his business relations, which he adhered to for several years. In 1839 he went to New York, and after remaining two years he returned to his home and took charge of his mother's business until he was of age, when, having a small patrimony left him by his grandfather, he entered the grocery business in Newburg. While here he was married to Elmira Smith, of Mamakating, Sullivan county, N. Y. She was the daughter of James D. Smith. Mr. McKune continued his residence in Newburg for two years. His health failing, he took up his abode at Cold Spring, N. Y., for another two years, and in 1849 emigrated to California, leav- ing New York, February I, on the steamer "Falcon," which car- ried the first mails to California. During this trip he worked as baker, both on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and was the first American that ever carried on that branch of industry in the city of Panama. On reaching California he repaired to the mines and stayed there for seven months, then went to San Francisco and engaged at his business during his sojourn there. On his return east he settled first at Susquehanna Depot, Pa., after which he located at Binghamton, N. Y. He remained in Binghamton for seventeen years, and in 1862 he removed to Scranton. The same year he occupied the position of first lieutenant of the Keystone Guards, a company raised at Scranton, and with them he joined
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DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
the army at the front, assisting the army of the Potomac at the battle of Antietam. Upon his return from this emergency he entered the service again by uniting with the secret bureau at Vicksburg, Miss., under command of Colonel Hutchinson, and remained in the secret service until the close of the war. He remained one year south after the termination of hostilities, when he again returned north, and entered upon a general insurance business in Scranton. In 1868 he was appointed by Chief Justice Chase U. S. commissioner, and held this position until his election as mayor, when he resigned. He was elected mayor in 1875 by the democratic party, and held the office until 1878. It was during his term as mayor that the great strike of 1877 occurred. The full particulars may be seen in a work entitled "A City's Danger and Defense," by Samuel C. Logan, D. D., Scranton, Pa., 1887. Mayor McKune was severely beaten by the rioters while trying to persuade them to go to their homes. Fifty-three persons, most of them members of the Scranton City Guards, which had been called into existence by Mayor McKune, were tried for manslaughter. It is needless to say that they were all honorably acquitted. Hon. Stanley Woodward, who was one of the counsel for the defense during the trial, paid the following tribute to Mayor McKune: "And here let me say, that nowhere in the history of any state or city can be found a nobler, braver record than that made by Mayor KcKune and the handful of men under his command. Their action was as unselfish as it was honorable. No man could have shown greater pluck and per- sonal courage than Mayor McKune when he quietly approached that mob, hoping to prevail upon them to return to their duty as good citizens. Yet they gave him no hearing. He was beaten down by those who call themselves laboring men. Had they not been met and checked in their mad career the city of Scranton would have been in embers. . There would have been sacked houses and terrorized people everywhere. The excitement of such an occasion prevents many things from being brought to light, but this one fact we have proved, that the three men who died were shot in the front." Judge Harding, who presided at the trial, said : "The city of Scranton was fortunate in having for her chief officer on that day Robert H. McKune, one of the few
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DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.
mayors of the cities of Pennsylvania who, in the almost general troubles of the times, manfully stood up for law and order." Mayor McKune was presented with a testimonial address, which, among other words, contained the following : "We recognize the promptness and manly decision with which, with a handful of our brave young men as special police, you stood at the risk of your life, and while bleeding with wounds, to use deadly force to arrest the mob, and exorcise the murderous spirit abroad, when everything else failed. We are proud to recall you with your little band of vigilants as you stood on that memorable first day of August as a forlorn hope to save the city from a wretched desolation and violence, which the condition of other cities of our land at that timed proved to be imminent. We not only be- lieve that you and your special police, so wisely organized, did
God's service that day, but that our fathers' God was with you, and that under and by his interposition of mercy this spirit of all evil was arrested, if not subdued, for the whole valley. You fought and won the battle of law and order for all the cities of the region, and lifted the office you fill into its true importance and dignity." This testimonial was voluntarily signed, in an illuminated book, by about two thousand citizens of Scranton and of the immediate vicinity. It has the signatures of Governor Hart- ranft and all the members of his staff, also of all the veterans of 1812 known to be in the county. It contained the signatures of all the Protestant pastors in the city, that of the directors of the Home for the Friendless and of the City Hospital. To it also were affixed the signatures of the officers and directors of all the cor- porations and associations, both business and benevolent, repre- sented in the city, and with them the seals of these corporations. It was signed by the "Firing Squad" of August first, and by the officers and men of the Scranton City Guard. After all these, many citizens of Carbondale, Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Bethlehem, and Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, joined those of Elmira, Buffalo and New York city in attaching their names to this recognition of the faithfulness of Mayor McKune.
Mrs. Mary Catharine Rank was born January 11, 1846. She died July 18, 1881, in Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Rank had two children, both of whom died in infancy.
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GEORGE SCRANTON HORN.
GEORGE SCRANTON HORN.
George Scranton Horn, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., April 3, 1872, is a grandson of John Horn and his wife, Elizabeth Horn, (nce Leidig). The father of George S. Horn was Adam Lewis Horn, who was born in Easton, Pa., December 21, 1815. The wife of A. L. Horn was Elizabeth Widener Albright, a daughter of William and Anna Albright. She was born at Belvidere, N. J., November 10, 1817. They were married at Belvidere November 12, 1836. In 1846 they removed to Harrison (now the city of Scranton). George S. Horn was born at Scrantonia (now Scranton), April 27, 1849. He at- tended the public schools in his early youth, and afterwards one of the best business colleges in the country. In 1866 he went to Washington, N. J., as an employee of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, in the coal shipping department at that place, and remained in their employ until the summer of 1869, when he entered the law office of John W. Betts at that place, as a stu- dent at law. Mr. Betts' health failed in the fall of that year and he gave up practice. Mr. Horn thereupon returned to Scranton, and on December 13, 1869, entered the law office of Ward & Gunster. Mr. Horn has had a lucrative practice from his admis- sion, and on June 15, 1877, entered into co-partnership with Hon. W. G. Ward, and since then has been a member of the firm of Ward & Horn. He is a democrat in politics, but has never sough. office at the hands of his party. Mr. Horn married, April 17, 1872, Caroline, a daughter of Adam S. and Julia Edinger, formerly of Tannersville, Monroe county, Pa., and subsequently of Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Horn have one child living-Charles E. Horn.
In 1883 one of the newspapers of Scranton published a series of articles, containing sketches of members of the Lackawanna county bar, from the pen of one of the prominent members of that bar. In one of these articles appeared the following, with reference to the subject of this sketch :
"I will select as the subject of to-day's sketch one of the most
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JACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING.
successful young lawyers at the bar-George S. Horn, Esq. Iden- tified for some years with the firm of Ward & Horn, his individ- uality as an attorney has been partially merged with the prom- inent advocate with whom he has been associated. The laborious and extensive office work of the firm has fallen to his lot, while Judge Ward basked in the smiles of the court and took posses- sion of the case after the preliminary work had been done, and it was ready for trial. There are few more thorough lawyers than Mr. Horn at the bar, and certainly none possessing in a more eminent degree those qualities of head and heart which not only insure his own success, but endear him to the legal fraternity. There is all that strict discipline accompanying his character that contributes to the successful issue of a case in hand, but when business is given up for the time there is all of that mirthful abandon of action and conversation which constitutes the true - harmony of fun. There is no more genial soul at the Lack- awanna bar ; none more ready to give or take a joke; none more ready to perform and none more capable of appreciating a kind- ness. He is always anxious to please, and does not possess that domineering attitude or conduct which almost cancels the virtues of some of our lawyers. Mr. Horn is now coming into more active prominence before the court and jury. He is modest in his pretensions and does not seek to parade his knowledge or abil- ities to the gaze of every one. He is rather inclined to suffer his merits to assert themselves. He is honest, capable and efficient, the prerequisites of a good and successful lawyer."
JACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING.
Jacob Shindel Leisenring, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., April 11, 1872, was born at Selinsgrove, Pa., April 2, 1847. He was educated at the Missionary Institute of that place, and in the common schools of Baltimore, Maryland,
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JACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING.
to which place he removed at an early age with his father. While yet a mere boy he enlisted, during the late civil war, in Company G, First Independent Battery, Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the close of the war he located at Charlestown, Jefferson county, West Virginia, where he read law with Hon. William H. Travers, and where he was admitted to the bar in 1870. In 1871 he removed to Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, Pa., and was for a time associated with C. F. Shindel, Esq., a prominent member of the bar of that county. From there, early in 1872, he removed to Hazleton, Luzerne county, where he engaged in the practice of his profession until the fall of that year, when he removed to Hays City, Ellis county, Kansas, having been appointed district attorney of a newly formed judicial district in the western part of that state. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1873 and located in Altoona, Blair county, Pa., where he now resides. He married, September 1, 1875, Miss Anna M. Cherry, of that city, and has one child living-Henrietta S. Leisenring, born July 31, 1876. Mr. Leisenring is past commander of Post 62, department of Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic, and is a prominent and influential member of that order. In it he has held several important positions. He is the author of Leisenring's Book of Forms.
His great-great-grandfather, John Conrad Leisenring, migrated to Pennsylvania from Heidelberg, Germany, prior to 1750, locating, first, in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, and from there removing to White Hall, Lehigh county, Pa., where the original tract of land purchased by him, and the mansion house erected thereon soon after, are yet in the possession and occupancy of certain of his descendants. From John Conrad Leisenring sprung Conrad, who had, amongst other children, a son Peter, born at White Hall, where he grew to manhood, and married about 1794, and where Gideon, his second child and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1802. Peter, the father of Gideon, removed to Northumberland county with his family early in 1800, near which place he resided until his death, which occurred about 1830. His children-four in number-were all left well provided for, and Gideon succeeded to the ownership of the home- stead, a valuable piece of land near the town of Sunbury. Here
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JACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING.
he married Louisa Shindel, and here he resided until 1845, when he removed to Selinsgrove, Pa., and from there to Baltimore, Md., in 1858. He was a resident of the latter city at the commence- ment of the late civil war, and was among the most pronounced and fearless advocates of the Union cause in that city. His house was the resort and refuge, as he was the adviser and confident, of many of the more timid Union-loving residents of that place, and from his dwelling floated the first United States flag raised in Baltimore after the memorable 19th of April, 1861. He removed to Charlestown, West Virginia, at the close of the war, where he engaged in business, and where he died in 1880. He was a man of intense activity and energy, and wherever he resided his busi- ness and social qualities were thoroughly recognized.
The wife of Gideon Leisenring, and mother of Jacob Shindel Leisenring-Louisa Shindel-was a descendant of Michael Shin- del, a native of Odenwald, Germany, from whence he migrated to Pennsylvania and located in what is now Lebanon county, about 1758. His son, John Peter, born in Odenwald, accompanied him, also locating in Lebanon county, where he died May 29, 1784. Here was born John Peter, his son, August 21, 1766. He served in the legislature of the state, and was a justice of the peace for many years. He died September 17, 1829. His son, also named John Peter, was born in Lebanon, Pa., about 1790, and there married Miss Susan Mccullough about 1809. He be- came a minister of the gospel in the Lutheran church and a preacher of note, and located in Sunbury, Pa., soon after his mar- riage, where he died about 1855. The name of Father Shin- del was a household word in the entire Susquehanna valley, where he is yet held in the tenderest recollection by many of the older citizens. His daughter Louisa was born about the year 1812; was married to Gideon, the father of Jacob Shindel Lei- senring, about 1830, and died at Selinsgrove, Pa., in 1853. She was an earnest, pure, christian woman, and .her loss was most keenly felt in the community.
Many of the descendants of both John Conrad Leisenring and John Peter Shindel are prominent in business and professional circles throughout the United States.
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GEORGE H. SQUIER.
HARVEY J. JONES.
Harvey J. Jones, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., June 8, 1872, is a native of Wilkes-Barre, where he was born October 15, 1847. He is the son of James Jones, who was born in Albany county, N. Y. His grandfather, Lathan Jones, was a native of Connecticut, whose wife was Nancy Terwilliger, of Albany county, N. Y. The mother of Harvey J. Jones was Anna M. Wood, a native of England, who was the daughter of Moses Wood and Sarah Bielby Wood, his wife. (See page 434). Mr. Jones read law in this city with E. P. Darling, and now resides in Gunnison, Colorado. He is an unmarried man.
GEORGE H. SQUIER.
George H. Squier was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., September 16, 1872. He is the grandson of Stephen Squier, a son of Joshua Horton Squier, whose wife was Sarah Greene, a daughter of Obadiah Greene, a nephew of General Greene, of revolutionary fame. G. H. Squier was born at Nicholson, Lu- zerne (now Wyoming) county, Pa., October 8, 1836, and was educated at Harford University, Susquehanna county, Pa., and the Susquehanna Seminary, at Binghamton, N. Y. He read law with A. K. Peckham at Tunkhannock, Pa. He has resided at Carbondale for many years. He was clerk of the mayor's court of Carbon- dale from 1867 to 1870, and district attorney of the same court from 1873 to 1876. He was also at one time one of the auditors of Luzerne county. Mr. Squier married, April 9, 1861, Flora Wilson, a daughter of Amzi Wilson and his wife Esther (nee Wetherby). He married a second time, May 13, 1876, Laura C. Gates. Mr. Squier has two children-John W. Squier and B. F. Squier.
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MOSES M. THORP.
OLIVER CHARLES KAHLER.
Oliver Charles Kahler, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., November 11, 1872, is a descendant of Christo- pher Kahler, who was born in Wirtemburg, Germany, Decem- ber, 1766. He emigrated to the United States in the latter part of the last century, and located at Easton, Pa., where he, in 1797, married Catharine M. Kishbauch, of Easton. His son, Charles Kahler, was born in Easton December 27, 1801, and removed to Bloomsburg, Pa., with his father's family, in 1808. He was a justice of the peace at Bloomsburg for over forty years, and held his first commission as such from Governor Wolf. He married, December 14, 1823, Nancy Teeple, who was born near Belvidere, N. J., November 11, 1802. O. C. Kahler, son of Charles Kahler, was born at Bloomsburg February 20, 1825. He was educated in the schools of Bloomsburg, and read law with William G. Hur- ley, at that place. He was admitted to the bar of Columbia county, at Bloomsburg, in 1848, and was the first person admitted after the removal of the county seat from Danville, Pa. He has practiced most of his life at Bloomsburg, where he now resides, but had, for a while, an office at Shickshinny, in this county. He married, July 18, 1852, Caroline Dietterick, a daughter of Abra- ham Dietterick, of Briar Creek, Columbia county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Kahler have a family of eight children, seven sons and one daughter.
MOSES M. THORP.
Moses M. Thorp, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 11, 1873, is a native of Canaan, Wayne county, Pa., where he was born March 6, 1848. He is the son of Jesse W. Thorp, a native of Warren county, N. J. His mother was Sarah M. Miller, a native of Morris county, N. J. His grand- father, Ephraim Thorp, was born in Morris county, N. J., whose
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GEORGE B. DE WITT.
wife, Sarah Picket, was born in Warren county, N. J. Leonard Miller, the father of Sarah M. Miller, was born in Germany. His wife, Ellen Dalton, was born in England. Mr. Thorp was educated in the common schools, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age. He then attended the Waymart High School and the Albany Law School, from which he grad- uated. He read law with D. N. Lathrope and S. E. Dimmick, and opened an office in Carbondale, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, Pa. He subsequently removed to Waymart, Wayne county, Pa., where he now resides. He has been a justice of the peace in the latter place for ten years.
THOMAS J. FOLEY.
Thomas J. Foley was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 14, 1873. He practiced for some years at Hazleton, in this county, and now resides at Slatington, Pa.
GEORGE B. DE WITT.
George B. De Witt was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 14, 1873. He is the son of Moses W. De Witt, a na- tive of Sussex county, N. J., who from 1866 to 1869 was sheriff of Wyoming county, Pa. George B. De Witt was born October 1, 1845, in Exeter, Luzerne county, Pa. He was educated at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pa., and at Wyoming Semi- nary, Kingston, Pa., and read law with P. M. Osterhout, in Tunk- hannock, Pa. He has practiced in this county, Cameron county, Pa., Wyoming county, Pa., and Greene county, Ill. Mr. De Witt married, in 1872, H. F. Brown, a daughter of Solomon Brown and his wife, Mehitable Brown (nee Searle), natives of this county. Mr. and Mrs. De Witt have one child-Margaret E. De Witt. Mr. De Witt resides at Tunkhannock, Pa.
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