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 43
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987
SAMUEL P. McDIVITT.
ested patriots of New Jersey during the revolution, by destroy- ing the evidences of long service as an officer in the continental army, and of the loan of large sums of money to the continental congress, so that no successful claim could ever be made for re- muneration or reimbursement. Mr. Torrey completed his law studies in the office of E. B. Sturges, in Scranton. He imme- diately opened an office in Scranton, where he has ever since de- voted himself strictly and exclusively to the practice of the law, principally upon the civil side of the court. By appointment of the board of trade he represented Scranton in the inter-municipal conventions of 1886-7, and was associated with Louis Richards, Esq., of Reading, and T. A. Lamb, Esq., of Erie, in the work of drafting and securing the passage of the act of May 24, 1887, for the government of the smaller cities of the state. Mr. Torrey has been the treasurer of the Lackawanna Bar Association since its organization, for several years past secretary of the Lackawanna Law Library Association, and is now (1889) the chairman of the board of examiners of law students. Mr. Torrey has been for many years a manager and was for two terms (1878-80) the president of the Young Men's Christian Association, of Scran- ton. He was made superintendent of the Sunday school of the Second Presbyterian church in 1882, and an elder in 1886, both of which positions he still holds. Mr. Torrey has four children - Mary Humphrey Torrey, William Jessup Torrey, Elizabeth Jay Torrey and Douglas Jay Torrey.
SAMUEL P. McDIVITT.
Samuel P. McDivitt, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 21, 1876, is a son of Matthew McDivitt and his wife, Jane Patterson. He is a native of Alexandria, Hunting- don county, Pa, where he was born August 5, 1848. He was educated in the public schools, Pennsylvania State Normal School, and Michigan University, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and read law with K. A. Lovell, Esq., at Huntingdon, Pa. He practiced law for four years in Scranton, Pa., and while residing there was secre-
988
WHARTON DICKINSON.
tary and treasurer of the Second Presbyterian church. He was also superintendent of the primary department of the Sabbath school connected with the same church. He was also one of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. McDivitt married, May 1, 1884, Emily M. Skinner, daughter of Rev. Thomas Harvey Skinner, D. D., and his wife, Mary Day, of Springfield, Mass. Dr. Skinner was born in Philadelphia Octo- ber 6, 1820; graduated at the University of New York in 1840; was licensed to preach the gospel in 1843, and was ordained and installed pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Paterson, N. J., the same year. In 1846 he accepted a call to the West Pres- byterian church in the city of New York, and in 1856 was trans- ferred to the Presbyterian church at Honesdale, Pa. In 1859 he took charge of the Reformed Dutch church in Stapleton, Long Island, in which he continued until 1868, when he accepted the pastoral care of the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1871. he was settled as pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is now connected with the McCormick Theological Seminary, of Chicago, as Cyrus H. McCormick Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology. Among Dr. Skinner's published writings are the following articles in the Princeton Review : 1860, The Bible its own Witness and Interpreter; 1866, The Trinity in Redemption ; 1867, Sanctification. Mr. and Mrs. McDivitt now reside in Chicago, Ill.
WHARTON DICKINSON.
Wharton Dickinson was born September 9, 1849, and was ad- mitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 24, 1877. He is a descendant of Samuel Dickinson, of Maryland, by his second wife, Mary Cadwalader, whose grandfather, John Cadwalader, emi- grated to Pennsylvania from Pembrokeshire, North Wales, towards the close of the seventeenth century, and married Martha Jones, daughter of Edward Jones, M. D., one of the earliest practitioners of medicine in the province. The mother of Martha Jones was
989
WHARTON DICKINSON.
Mary, daughter of Thomas Wynne, " chirurgeon " from Gaerway- Flintshire, Wales, who came over with Penn in the "Welcome," and was speaker of the first three general assemblies. The father of Mary Cadwalader was Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, a member of the provincial council from 1755 to 1776. He filled many impor- tant stations, the last of which was in 1778, when he was ap- pointed surgeon of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Philemon Dick- inson, son of Samuel Dickinson, graduated at the college of Phila- delphia, and read law with his brother, and practiced for a few years. In 1775 he was made colonel of the Hunterdon Bat- talion, and in the same year he was commissioned a brigadier general. In the following summer he was a delegate to the provincial congress, at Burlington. In September, 1776, he joined Washington at Perth Amboy. He accompanied the American army on its retreat through the Jerseys, and was at Morrisville, Pa., when Washington planned his attack on Trenton. In 1777 he was appointed major general and commander-in-chief of the New Jersey troops. He participated in the battle of Monmouth, and after the battle pursued the enemy as far as Amboy. In 1778 Washington made him chief signal officer from Newburg, N. Y., to Philadelphia. The state of Delaware chose him one of its delegates to the continental congress in 1781. In 1783 he was elected one of the council of New Jersey, of which body he · became vice-president, serving two years. The continental con- gress in 1784 appointed him, among others, to select a site for the federal capital. They reported in favor of Trenton, but their report was laid on the table. In 1790 he was chosen United States senator from New Jersey, and served until 1793. He died in 1809. The celebrated John Dickinson was his brother. Samuel Dickinson, son of Philemon Dickinson, studied law with Edward Tilghman, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar in 1792, but never practiced. He married, in 1796, his cousin Anne, daughter of Samuel Meredith by his wife, Margaret Cad- walader. Samuel Dickinson, son of Samuel Dickinson, was a colonel in the New Jersey militia in 1844, and was captain of the Tenth United States Infantry in the Mexican war. He was the father of Wharton Dickinson, who married, October 4, 1877, Emily H. Barron, daughter of Edward A. Barron.
990
JAMES E. BURR.
SAMUEL FRENCH WADHAMS.
Samuel French Wadhams was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., May 28, 1877. He was educated at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in the class of 1875, and read law with E. P. and J. V. Darling, in this city. He practiced in this city until 1884, when he removed to Duluth, Minnesota, where he now resides. He is an unmarried man and a republi- can in politics. He is the son of the late Elijah Catlin Wadhams, and his wife, Esther Taylor Wadhams. For a sketch of the Wadhams family see pages 109 and 755.
JAMES E. BURR.
James E. Burr, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., May 20, 1877, is a descendant of Jehue Burr, who came to America with Winthrop's famous fleet in 1630, and on his arrival settled in Roxbury, Mass. (See page 762). Nathaniel Burr, son of Jehue Burr, was born in Springfield, Mass., about 1640. Dan- iel Burr, son of Nathaniel Burr, had a son James Burr, of Fair- field, Conn., who married Deborah Turney, who had a son Jehue Burr, who was born March 15, 1752. He married Mary, daugh- ter of Daniel Hawley. Jehue Burr settled first at Huntington, Conn., where most of his children were born. In 1795 he re- moved with his family to what is now Andes, Delaware county, N. Y., then a new country. There he followed the profession of a practical surveyor and land agent. He had a son Isaac Burr, of Meredith, N. Y., who was born December 10, 1780, and mar- ried, September 4, 1809, Deborah Raymond. She was born at Norwalk, Conn. Isaac Burr was also a practical surveyor and land agent. He was a member of the New York constitutional convention in 1846. He was also a member of the legislature of the state of New York and at one time was a candidate for con-
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991
JAMES E. BURR.
gress. He had a son Washington Burr, of Carbondale, Pa., who was born August 7, 1824. He married, November 4, 1851, Lucinda Bradley, of Carbondale. He is a watchmaker and jeweler in Carbondale. James E. Burr, son of Washington Burr, was born at Carbondale, Pa., July 8, 1853. He graduated from the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, in the class of 1875, and read law in this city with E. P. and J. V. Darling, and has practiced in this city and in Carbondale, where he now resides. He has also an office in Scranton. He has been city solicitor of Carbon- dale since 1879, and from 1881 to 1884 he was one of the school directors of the city of Carbondale. He married, September 6, 1882, Matilda Parsons Bryan, daughter of the late Rev. Edward D. Bryan. Mr. Bryan was born in Harrisburg, Pa., June 15, 1812. His grandfather, George Bryan, was born in 1731 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the eldest son, and in early life emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia. He was at first engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he was unsuccessful. He was em- ployed in the public service, having been a member of the colo- nial congress which met in New York in 1765, and repeatedly a member of the assembly under the proprietary government. After that was at an end he served in the supreme executive council for three years, (the maximum period in seven years per- mitted by the organic law) as vice-president, and a part of that time as acting president of the council. Soon after retiring from this office he was elected a member of the assembly, where he at once took a leading part. He was a sincere patriot, and by voice and vote gave his powerful support to the popular cause. It was at a time when the most vigilant and ceaseless care was requisite to maintain the new government, both state and national, in their struggle with one of the leading powers of the earth. But his was a nature that could not be exclusively absorbed by the ordinary duties of the hour. His heart was full of sympathy for the weak, the lowly and the suffering of every class, and while he was act- ive in resisting tyranny from abroad, he was equally interested to remove every vestige of oppression at home. Frequent at- tempts had been made to put an end to African slavery in the colony, but none had hitherto been successful. In his message to the assembly of November 9, 1778, as acting president of
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992
JAMES E. BURR.
the council, in calling attention to this subject, he said : "This, or some better scheme, would tend to abrogate slavery, the oppro- brium of America, from among us, and no period seems more happy for the attempt than the present, as the number of such unhappy characters, ever few in Pennsylvania, has been much reduced by the practices and plunder of our late invaders. In divesting the state of slaves you will equally serve the cause of humanity and policy and offer to God one of the most proper and best returns of gratitude for His great deliverance of us and our posterity from thralldom ; you will also set your character for justice and benevolence in the true point of view to all Europe, who are astonished to see a people eager for liberty holding negroes in bondage." In 1779 he was elected to the legislature, where he early matured and brought forward a bill, which, after setting forth in touching terms the wrongfulness of slavery, pro- vided that no child born thereafter in Pennsylvania of slave par- ents should be a slave, but a servant until the age of twenty-eight years, when all claims for further service should cease ; that all slaves should be immediately registered, and unless so registered shall be deemed free, and that slaves shall be tried as other per- sons, and if capitally punished the master should be paid from the public treasury. "It was passed," says Westcott, "on second reading by a vote of forty yeas to eighteen nays, and upon third reading on March 1, 1780, by thirty-four yeas to eighteen nays." Thus, by a law simple in its operation, with little inconvenience to any, was a great act of justice consummated, striking with withering effect at the roots of a great social evil, and securing a perpetual blessing in its far-reaching consequences. "There is very little doubt, " says the authority above quoted, "but that George Bryan deserves the credit of originating and finally of urging this humane measure to a successful vote. He was aided by others, but he seemed to make the passage of the law his especial care. In 1780 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, which office he held for eleven years and until his death, discharging its duties with ability and fidelity. In 1784 he was chosen one of the council of censors, of which body he was a leading member. He died January 27, 1791, and his remains are interred in the burying ground of the Second Presbyterian
993
CHARLES L. HAWLEY.
church in Philadelphia. George Edward Bryan, son of George Bryan, was clerk of the state senate for some years and auditor general of Pennsylvania from 1809 to 1821. His wife was Anna Maria Steinman, of Lancaster, Pa. Rev. Edward D. Bryan, father of Mrs. Burr, was the son of George Edward Bryan. His early life was passed in Harrisburg and Lancaster. During these years he kept steadily before him the purpose of his life, to enter the gospel ministry. His health was not good and in fact during his entire life he was not robust. He entered Princeton College and after graduation, Princeton Seminary. From that time his life was devoted to the Christian ministry. His first charge was Rye, N. Y., where he remained twenty-two years. A notable feature in his ministry has been his long pastorates. Although an active minister for nearly half a century he had only three charges. After leaving Rye he went to Washington, N. J., where he spent nine years. His next charge was in Carbondale, where his pas- torate continued from 1868 to 1880. For six years prior to his death Mr. Bryan had been living in Orange, N. J., without a regular charge. One of his sons, R. W. D. Bryan, a lawyer at Albuquerque, N. M., was astronomer on the Polaris in its mem- orable expedition to the North Pole. Another son, W. B. Bryan, is on the editorial staff of the Washington Star. Rev. Edward Bryan, another son, is pastor of a church at Bradford, Pa., and Rev. Arthur Bryan, another son, is a missionary in Japan. The youngest son, John C. Bryan, M. D., is practicing his profession in New York. The wife of Rev. Edward D. Bryan was Sarah Bogart Conger, daughter of John Conger, M. D., late of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Burr have a family of three children-Sarah Bryan Burr, Edward Bryan Burr and Elizabeth Paxton Burr.
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CHARLES L. HAWLEY.
Charles L. Hawley, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., June 13, 1877, is a son of Ira N. Hawley, M. D., of Scranton. C. L. Hawley was born in Montrose, Pa., December 8, 1855, and was educated in the Providence graded school of the
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994
HAROLD LEACH.
city of Scranton. He read law with E. C. Dimmick, of Scranton, and after his admission practiced in the city of New York, in 1877 and 1878. He then returned to Scranton, where he has prac- ticed and resided since. He is an unmarried man.
HAROLD LEACH.
Harold Leach, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., September 28, 1877, is a descendant of Ephraim Leach, a native of Connecticut, who removed from that state to what is now Abington township, Lackawanna county, Pa., in 1794, where he made a small clearing and erected a log cabin near where Humphreysville now stands. He subsequently settled in the southern part of the township on a large tract of land now known as Leach Flats. (See page 453 in reference to the early settlers of Abington.) His wife was Elizabeth Fellows, a sister of the late Joseph Fellows. The first Methodist Episcopal sermon in Abington township was preached by Rev. George Peck at the house of Ephraim Leach in 1818. Ephraim Leach and wife were of the nine members that made the first class at Leach Flats. Ebenezer Leach, son of Ephraim Leach, was born at Leach Flats, Abington township, in 1812. He early removed to Providence township, which comprises now the city of Scranton, where he was an alderman or justice of the peace for twenty-eight year .. In 1872 he was the republican candidate for mayor of the city of Scranton, but was defeated by M. W. Loftus, democrat. Mr. Leach married, in 1834, Lovina Walley, of Maryland, Otsego county, N. Y. She was the granddaughter of Garrett Walley, of Albany, N Y., where he was born March 18, 1764, and daughter of John Walley, of Colliersville, N. Y., where he was born No- vember 18, 1793. The mother of Mrs. Leach, and wife of Eb- enezer Leach, was Olive Rose, a granddaughter of Nathaniel Rose, of Spencertown, N. Y., where he was born April 6, 1770, and daughter of Nathaniel Rose, of Maryland, N. Y., where he was born November 17, 1792.
995
THOMAS ROGER HUGHES.
Harold Leach, son of Ebenezer Leach, was born at Providence, now Scranton, Pa., September 1, 1856. He was educated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and read law with E. N. Willard in Scranton. He now resides in San Francisco, Cal. He is an unmarried man and a republican in politics. S. B. Sturde- vant, M. D., of this city, is his brother-in-law, having married a daughter of Ebenezer Leach.
THOMAS ROGER HUGHES.
Thomas Roger Hughes, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., January 9, 1878, is a native of Bethesda, Car- - narvonshire, North Wales. In early life he was employed in the Penrhyn slate quarries. Subsequently he came to this country and was soon at work in the slate quarries of Northampton county, Pa. In Wales he went through all the classes of the national school of his native village, from the lowest to the high- est, and attended night school during one winter, while working in the quarry. After working nearly two years in the slate quar- ries of Pennsylvania he spent all his savings on his education, and attended Andalusia College, in Bucks county, Pa., during part of 1870, 1871, and in 1872 graduated with the title of Bachelor of Commercial Law. In October, 1872, he moved to Scranton, a per- fect stranger, and worked for a month on the Times. He after- wards became bookkeeper of the Co-operative Association, No. I, of Hyde Park, was elected assessor of the Fourth ward of Scranton in 1876, studied law with Messrs. Gunster and Welles, became deputy clerk of courts of Luzerne county, under Mr. R. J. James, in 1877. After the death of Mr. James in 1879, and the appointment of D. S. Williams, Esq., clerk of courts, Mr. Hughes acted as deputy clerk under Mr. Williams until his term expired, January, 1880. He practiced his profession in Wilkes-Barre until April, 1831, when he removed to Scranton, Pa. Mr. Hughes takes an active interest in the Welsh societies and Welsh institu- tions of Scranton. He was the secretary of the Quinquennial Eisteddfodau, held in Scranton in 1875 and 1885. He has acted
996
HORATIO NICHOLSON PATRICK.
at different times as secretary and president of the Welsh Philo- sophical Society and Free Library Association of Scranton, and has been the secretary of the Cymrodorion Society for three years.
FRANK JOSEPH FITZSIMMONS.
Frank Joseph Fitzsimmons, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., March 19, 1878, is a native of Carbondale, Pa., where he was born September 29, 1852. He is the son of Hugh Fitzsimmons and his wife, Rose Fitzsimmons (nee Shannon), both natives of county Cavan, Ireland, who emigrated to America in 1850, and located at Carbondale. Both are now living, and reside on a farm in Wayne county, Pa., near Carbondale. Mr. Fitzsim- mons was educated at Manhattan Academy, N. Y., and Villa Nova College, in Delaware county, Pa. He studied law with O'Neill (D. L.) and Campbell (P. H.) in this city, and resides in Scranton. Mr. Fitzsimmons is a democrat in politics, and has represented his party frequently in state and county conventions. In 1880 he was a delegate to the national democratic convention, which met at Cincinnati. He is an unmarried man. He is the editor of The Lackawanna Jurist and Law Magazine, at this writing the legal publication for Lackawanna county.
HORATIO NICHOLSON PATRICK.
Horatio Nicholson Patrick was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., September 3, 1878. He was born in this city Sep- tember 26, 1853, and is a son of David L. Patrick. (See page 68). He now resides in Scranton, and in 1885 was the demo- cratic candidate for clerk of the courts of Lackawanna county, but was defeated .. He married, December 29, 1885, Ella Lath- rop, a native of Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pa., and daughter of Austin Lathrop, a native of Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y.,
997
JOHN NEVIN HILL.
who was the son of Israel Lathrop, a native of Connecticut. Mrs. Patrick is the sister of General Austin Lathrop, of Corning, N. Y. The wife of Austin Lathrop, and mother of Mrs. Pat- rick, was Caroline Knox, a native of Knoxville, Tioga county, Pa. She was the daughter of William Knox, and sister of John C. Knox, who was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania, in 1853. He resigned his seat in 1858, and was ap- pointed attorney general of Pennsylvania by Governor Packer. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick have one child-Grace Kathleen Patrick.
JOHN NEVIN HILL.
John Nevin Hill, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., December 13, 1878, is a native of Selinsgrove, Sny- der county, Pa., where he was born September 3, 1855. He is a descendant of Daniel Hill, who was a citizen of Berks county, Pa., at the time of its erection in 1752. He or his father, it is believed, emigrated from Ireland to America. He resided in Windsor township, in Berks county, where he had a farm and kept an inn called Windsor Castle. After the revolution he re- moved to Westmoreland county, Pa., where he died. Jacob Hill, son of Daniel Hill, was born at Windsor Castle, May 9, 1750, and was reared as a farmer. At the age of twenty-one he was engaged to be married to a daughter of George Gartner, of the same place, who afterwards removed to the Muncy Val- ley, now in Lycoming county, Pa., where he was killed by the Indians. Gartner moved there in 1773 and was killed five years later. Jacob Hill's marriage was delayed by the revolu- tionary war. He enlisted and served throughout the war in the Fifth regiment of the continental line as a grenadier under Wayne. After his discharge he and Christina Gartner were married, and after living for a time in Berks county they re- moved to the Muncy Valley, near the scene of the killing of Christina's father. He took up his residence there in the year 1793, purchased land and continued the peaceful life of a farmer
998
JOHN NEVIN HILL.
up to the time of his death, January 9, 1824, six days after the death of his wife. He was an independent man, of thrifty and good habits, a federal during Washington's administration. He afterwards joined the party of Jefferson and called himself a democrat. He spoke and read both German and English and was a devout adherent of the Evangelical Lutheran denomina- tion. Daniel Hill, son of Jacob Hill, was born and lived all his life in Muncy Creek township, Lycoming county, and carried on the business of farming and distilling. His wife's maiden name was Susanna Truckenmiller, who was a native of Lehigh county, Pa., but at the time of her marriage had removed with her family to Turbot township, in Northumberland county, Pa. Mr. Hill was a life-long democrat and took an active interest in politics. George Hill was the son of Daniel Hill. At a tender age he went to reside with a cousin near McEwensville, Northumberland county, Pa. It was then a place of some importance, being on one of the chief highways of the state, a stopping place for the stages, a grain centre, and there was considerable manufacturing-coach making, foundries, &c., many of which are now in ruin. He was ambitious to obtain an education and succeeded against many obstacles. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to William Hood to learn the coach-making trade and served his time at the bench. As his term of apprenticeship drew towards a close he began the study of the law under the direction of Hon. James Pollock, of Milton, Pa., afterwards governor of the state. Then he taught school in East Buffalo township and in New Berlin, in Union county, Pa., continuing his law studies under A. Swine- ford, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1848, at New Berlin, then the county seat of Union county. On December 25, 1848, he married Martha Clark Buehler, a daughter of Samuel Buehler, of Catawissa, Columbia county, Pa. Samuel Buehler's wife's name was Mary S. Welker, a sister of Hon. George C. Welker, at one time an associate judge of Northumberland county, Pa. One of their maternal uncles was killed in an Indian foray near the Susquehanna, and their mother, then a young woman, narrow- ly escaped the same fate. George Hill, after his marriage, settled at Selinsgrove, in Snyder county, Pa., and continued there in the practice of the law until the completion of the railroad to Sun-
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