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 9
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county, and built himself a beautiful residence on the bank of the Susquehanna river at Athens. He afterwards sold the same to Judge Herrick. Mr. Tharp's mother was a sister of R. H. Rose, M. D., from whom Montrose, in Susquehanna county, received its name. Her father, a Scotch gentleman, and his mother, a lady of Dublin, came to the United States a little before the rev- olutionary war and settled in Chester county, Pa. The wife of Doctor Rose was Jane, daughter of Andrew Hodge, jun., of Philadelphia, a cousin of Charles Hodge, D. D., LL. D., father of F. B. Hodge, D. D., of this city. The mother of Harriet Irwin Fuller was Jerusha Lindsley, a daughter of Judge Eleazer Linds- ley, of Lindsley, Steuben county, N. Y., where she was born January 19, 1793. Judge Lindsley was a native of Morristown, N. J., where he was born July 3, 1769. He married, April 23, 1787, Eunice Haisey, daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Hal- sey, of Bridghampton, N Y. Jeremiah Halsey was the ancestor of Gaius L. Halsey, of the Luzerne county bar. Emila Lindsley, another daughter of Judge Lindsley, was the wife of the late George M. Hollenback, of this city. Polly Lindsley, another daughter, married James Ford, of Perth Amboy, N. J., and be- came the ancestor of Benjamin Ford Dorrance, of the Luzerne bar. Judge Lindsley was a son of Colonel Eleazer Lindsley, a hero in the war of the revolution. He was born December 7, 1737, O. S., and married Mary Miller November 11, 1756. The Lindsleys are of Scotch descent, and trace their family back to Sir William Wallace.
Henry Amzi Fuller was educated in the public schools of this city, from which he graduated, and was prepared for college by Fred. Corss, M. D., of Kingston, entered the sophomore class of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, from which he graduated in the class of 1874. He read law with Henry W. Palmer, and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar January 9, 1877. Mr. Fuller married, November 20, 1879, Ruth Hunt Parrish, a daugh- ter of the late Gould Phinney Parrish, of this city. They have four children : John Torrey Fuller, Esther Fuller, Henry Mills Fuller, and Charles Parrish Fuller. Gould P. Parrish was born in Wilkes-Barre in a building where the Exchange Hotel is now located, May 1, 1822. He served an apprenticeship in the mer-
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cantile business with the late Isaac S. Osterhout, and then en- gaged in the manufacture of powder with the late George Knapp, under the firm name of Knapp and Parrish. They first con- structed a mill on Solomon's creek, near the city line, and sub- sequently built the Wapwallopen mills, in Hollenback town- ship, now owned by the Duponts. He relinquished the manu- facture of powder and went into the coal business in partnership with the late Thomas Brodrick, and operated the works of the Philadelphia Coal Company, now the Empire mines. He after- wards became a contractor and laid the first pipes for the Wilkes- Barre Water Company. He continued the business of contractor during the remainder of his life. He died in this city November 8, 1875. Gould P. Parrish was the son of Archippus Parrish, a native of Windham, Conn., where he was born January 27, 1773. In his early manhood he removed to Morristown, N. J., and there married Phebe, daughter of John Miller, August 12, 1806. He engaged as a contractor and built the turnpike from Morristown to Paulus Hook (now Jersey City). He removed to the Wyoming Valley in 1812, and for a short time resided in Kingston. He then removed to Wilkes-Barre and kept a hotel where the Exchange Hotel now stands. Here George H. Par- rish, of this city, was born. In March, 1824, Colonel Gould Phinney, with fourteen others, removed from the Wyoming Val- ley to Dundaff, Susquehanna county, Pa. Among them was Ar- chippus Parrish, who took charge of the Dundaff Hotel, and while a resident there Charles Parrish, of this city, was born. Mr. Parrish remained in Du idaff about four years, and then re- moved to Wilkes-Barre. He again took charge of a hotel lo- cated on the site of the present Wyoming Valley House. He then removed to the hotel he had first occupied in this city, and which shortly afterwards burned down. The family for a few weeks were obliged to live in the old court house. He then removed to the Drake house, on Main street, next to the present Union Leader office, and there kept a hotel. He subsequently built and kept a hotel on East Market street, near the old jail. About 1839 he retired from business and removed to a farm house at the corner of Canal and South streets, in this city, and resided there until his death, October, 1847. The wife of Gould
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P. Parrish was Esther, daughter of John Smith, M. D., who was a descendant of Captain Timothy Smith, or, as he was more fre- quently designated, Timothy Smith, Esq. He seems to have been a leading man in the Susquehanna Company at their meetings in Hartford, before settlements were made in Wyoming. Choosing Kingston for his residence, his name is recorded as one of the Forty, or earliest settlers. The old Westmoreland records fre- quently contain his name, and it is evident that he was an active, thorough business man, commanding confidence and respect. The sobriquet given him by the ancient people shows the esti- . mation in which he was held. Of course all were anxious to induce the legislature of Connecticut to recognize the settlement on the Susquehanna and extend her jurisdiction and laws therein. Among the agents sent out was Mr. Smith, and to his superior management they ascribed the success of his mission in inducing Connecticut to establish the town of Westmoreland. "Hence," said Mr. John Carey, "the settlers gave him the name of ' Old Head.'" He always conducted whatever affairs were entrusted to him with spirit and prudence, showing that he was a wise and safe counsellor and an active citizen. On May 6, 1773, he was appointed one of "a committee to attend the meeting of the Company at Hartford, on June 2nd, to lay the circumstances of the settlers before said meeting." On June 28, 1773, Mr. Smith, with John Jenkins and others, were appointed " to draw up a plan of regulations and submit the same, together with the former plan, at the next meeting." At a proprietors' meeting held July 8, 1773, Timothy Smith was chosen by this company to be their sheriff. On September 21, 1773, Captain Z. Butler and Mr. T. Smith were appointed agents to attend the General Assembly at New Haven in October next. On December 8, 1773, Mr. Joseph Sluman, Mr. Timothy Smith, and Mr. John Jenkins were ap- pointed agents to General Assembly at Hartford in January next, second Wednesday. It would seem that in April, 1874, four representatives were chosen or appointed. Among the votes recorded is this : "That Zebulon Butler, Esq., Captain Timothy Smith, Christopher Avery, and John Jenkins be appointed agents from the town of Westmoreland to lay our circumstances before the General Assembly in May next. Sept. 30, 1774." His son
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Benjamin Smith, was a physician. He married Wealthy Ann York, daughter of Amos York, of Wyalusing.
Amos York, from Voluntown, Conn., is believed to have been the pioneer settler of Mehoopany township, now in Wyoming county. He came in 1772, built a log house and enclosed a con- siderable tract of land opposite and above the mouth of the Me- shoppen creek. In 1778 he, with others, petitioned the Assembly of Connecticut for an abatement of their taxes, since they had suffered much from being robbed and plundered by the Indians. Subsequently he removed to Wyalusing .. Manasseh Miner, the father of Mrs. York, was one of the original proprietors in the Susquehanna company, and conveyed a right to his daughter, and Mr. York made the pitch on which the right was to be lo- cated at Wyalusing on some of the Indian clearings. Here he had carried on his improvements with considerable success. He had erected a good log house, a log barn, and had a considerable stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and raised sufficient quantities of grain for their support. At the breaking out of the revolutionary war he was known as an active and ardent whig, which arrayed against him the enmity of his tory neighbors. Apprehending trouble from the Indians in the fall of 1777, he went down to Wyoming to seek the advice of friends and make arrangements for the removal of his family. It was then thought there would be no danger from the savages in the winter, and, if in the spring they continued to favor the interests of the British, there would be ample time to seek the protection of the lower settlements. The capture of some of his neighbors occasioned new alarm, but there seemed to be no alternative but run the risk of being undisturbed until spring. To move his family sixty miles through a pathless wilderness in the depth of winter could not be thought of. On February 12 and 13, 1778, there occurred a severe snow storm. Each evening a negro from the old Indian town came to Mr. York's on a trifling excuse and remained until late in the evening. On the 14th the storm ceased and Mr. York determined to find out the reason for the negro's strange conduct. Immediately after breakfast he set out on horseback on an errand to Mr. Pauling's. As to what followed will be nearly in the words of his daughter, Sarah, who was at the time fourteen years
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of age. She says : "The snow was two feet deep. In the af- ternoon Miner, his little son, ran in and said the Indians were coming. The family looked out and saw Indians and white men-quite a company-and the children said they were not afraid, for father was with them. Parshall Terry came in first, Tom Green next, and father next. Father took his seat on the bed and drew his hat over his eyes. I went to him and said, 'Father, what is the matter ?' He made no answer, but the tears were running down his cheeks. Terry used to boat on the river, and often stopped at our house. When he came in mother said, ' How do you do, Terry ?' He replied, ' Mrs York, I am sorry to see you.' Mother said, 'Why ? have you taken my husband prisoner ?' He answered, 'Ask Tom Green.' Mother said, 'Tom, have you taken my husband prisoner ?' He said, 'Yes,' but added that he should not be hurt, only that he must take an oath that he will be true to King George. My mother appealed to him and Terry by the many acts of kindness they had done, represented to them the peaceable, generous, and obliging dis- position of her husband, and deplored the wretched condition of the family. After a while Terry lit his pipe, and said to Green, 'It is late, and we must be going.' They then drove the cattle into the road, stripped the house of every thing of value they could carry away, broke open the chests, tied up the plunder in sheets and blankets and put the bundles on the backs of the men. Father had to take a pack of his own goods. When they had got prepared to start, my father asked permission to speak to his wife -- he took her by the hand, but did not speak. When the company started my father was compelled to walk, carry a bun- dle, and assist in driving his cattle, while his favorite riding mare carried Terry." The journey was a tedious, toilsome one for the captive. He was held a prisoner for about nine months, during which time he was subject to exposure and want, and endured all manner of hardship and suffering, not the least of which was the constant anxiety for the welfare of his family, who were left destitute in the midst of winter and far from friends on whom they could call for aid in their distress. The narrative continues : "After the company had gone and no more was to be seen of father, my mother and sister, Wealthy, started down to the town
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of Wyalusing to see what had been done there. When they came to the village they found only two women, the wives of Page and Berry, and some children, whose I do not recollect. My mother stayed there awhile and then came back. *
That night we expected every moment that the Indians would come and kill us, or take us prisoners. We sat up and waited for the Indians all night. Next morning my mother and the older children concluded to move the family down to Wyalusing. We had eight fat hogs in the pen and a crib of corn. The bot- tom of the crib was opened and the hogs let out so they could get what corn they wanted, and we all started for the village, taking what we could of necessaries. My eldest sisters went every day and brought some things out of our house. We lived in this village in one of the cabins about three weeks. One night a man came to our cabin and handed my mother a letter from my father. His name was Secoy [John Secord], a tory. While he was in the house my brother, Miner, came in and said there were three men coming. Secoy said, ' Mrs. York, for God's sake, hide me.' She threw some bedding over him on the floor, and then went and stood in the door. The men came up. They were Captain Aholiab Buck, her son-in-law, Miner Robins, my mother's sister's son, and a Mr. Phelps. My mother told them not to come in, but to cross the river and stay at Eaton's that night; that Eaton was the only man left in the settlement; that early in the morning she and the children would be ready to go with them. They crossed over as my mother advised. She then told Secoy he might get up. He said he was hungry and mother gave him something to eat. He said she had saved him, and he would save her ; that his son was at the head of a body of Indians close by, and he was sent as a spy to see if there was any armed men there. Next morning Captain Buck came over and we all started on foot and travelled ten miles towards Wyoming, with no track except what the three men made coming and going. The first house we came to was Mr. Van der Lipp's. My mother and two of the older sisters went on next day with Captain Buck, the rest of the children staying at Van der Lipp's until spring, when Mr. Phelps took us away in a canoe to his house. Afterwards Miner Robbins took us in a canoe to Wyoming fort,
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where mother was." As affording some idea of the value of Mr. York's improvements at Wyalusing, Mrs. Carr (Sarah York) says the Indians took off one yoke of oxen, one yoke of four- year-old steers, one horse, eleven good cows, and a number of young cattle. There were besides, eight fat hogs, store hogs, sheep, fowls, etc .; that he had sufficient hay for his stock, three hundred bushels of corn in the crib, besides other grain. When it is remembered that this was on hand the latter part of Febru- ary we may infer that his crops were quite abundant. Including clothing and bedding taken off by the enemy, she estimates the loss to the family at one thousand three hundred and ninety-five dollars. Mrs. York and her family took refuge in Forty Fort, where she maintained herself by cooking for the garrison sta- tioned there. Here she remained until after the battle, in which Captain Buck fell, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, leaving an infant daughter born March 25, 1778, and who afterwards be- came the wife of Major Taylor, of Wyalusing. Speaking of the evening of the battle, Mrs. Carr, whose narrative I have quoted, says: "Some crawled in on their hands anda knees, covered with blood, during the night. The scenes of that night cannot be described -- women and children screaming and calling, ' Oh, my husband!' 'my brother!' 'my father!' etc. Next morning after the battle Parshall Terry came with a flag and written terms from Tory Butler to Colonel Denison. He told Denison if he surren- dered peaceably not a soul should be hurt, but if he refused the whole fort should be put to the tomahawk. My mother went to Colonel Denison and told him that this was the man who had deprived her of a husband and her children of a father, and she could not bear to see him come into the fort; that she had no confidence in his promises, and if he was allowed to come in she would go out. Colonel Denison said she must not go out. She declared she would; called her children to her, went to the gate and demanded a passage out. The sentry presented his bayonet to her breast, and asked Colonel Denison if he should let her pass. The Colonel said no. He then pushed the bayo- net through her clothes so that it drew blood. She said to Colonel Denison, 'I will go out with my children, or I will die here at the door.' The Colonel said, 'Let her pass.' We
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went down along the bank of the river. We could see burning houses on both sides of the river, which the Indians had set fire to. We went on until we got opposite Wilkes-Barre. We saw a woman on the other side of the river and mother called to her to bring a boat over. The woman was a Mrs. Lock, a Dutch- woman. We all got into it, and Mrs. Lock pushed it down the river with all her might. We run all day, and at night we stopped at a house near the bank. Not long after we had been in the house a boy informed us that Lieutenant Forsman was on the bank with a boat load of wounded men. We all got into our canoe again, and Forsman took a man [Richard Fitzgerald] from his boat to manage the canoe for us, and we run all night. We went down to Paxton, where we stayed until October. At Paxton my mother buried her youngest child, a son of 13 months. He died at the house of Colonel Elder. After a time mother received letters from Wyoming stating that she might return with safety. In October we went up to Wyoming in com- pany with a Dutch family. Captain 'Buck's widow was with us. We stayed about two weeks at Wilkes-Barre; but, as there was frequent murdering in the neighborhood, mother would not stay. There were three men going through the Big Swamp; mother and her family accompanied them on foot, resolved to make her way to her father's, in Voluntown, Conn. One of the men was Asahel, brother of Captain Buck. We lay one night in the swamp. When we got through it the men left us. We travelled on foot to New Mliford, Conn., where mother was taken sick, and it was a fortnight befor ? she was able to travel. When we were at the North river where General Washington lay, an officer informed him that there was a woman in distress. General Washington ordered her to be brought to his tent. She told him her story, and Washington gave her $50. But we did not need money to bear travelling expenses, for the people on the road treated us with great sympathy and kindness. At New Milford my sister, Buck, was among her husband's relatives. She and sister Esther remained there all winter. From New Milford we were carried in a wagon 100 miles to Windham, from there we travelled on foot a day and a half to Voluntown. When within a mile of her father's a man met her and said, 'How
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do you do, Mrs. York ?' Mother said she did not recollect him. He told us who he was, and said, 'Have you heard about your husband ?' She said she had not. Said he, 'I will tell you. He is dead and buried.' Mother looked around on her children, but did not speak. Not another word was spoken by her until she had got to her father's. This was the first intelligence we had of father from the time he was taken, except the letter Secoy brought. He was detained a prisoner at different places 9 months and was exchanged at New York. After his release he went to Mr. Miner's to make inquiries after his family, but could get no intelligence from them. He declared that he would start in two days, and would find his family if living ; but was taken sick, and died 11 days before his family arrived. We all visited his grave that night." The following is a copy of Colonel Butler's pass to Mrs. York, the original of which is still in existence :
" Permit the Bairor, Mrs. York & family, consisting of Nine, to pass from this to Stonington in Connecticut. And I do also Recommend to all Authority, both Sivil and military, to Assist the above family as they are of the Distressed [inhabitants] which were drove from this Town by Indians and tories, and her hus- band has been a prisoner with the enemy for eight months.
" ZEBU. BUTLER, Lt. Col. Comd'g. "Westmoreland, Oct. 13, 1778."
I have given the narrative thus full because it presents a vivid picture of the fortitude and heroism of the women of this period of our country's history. Mrs. York was only one of thousands, es- pecially on the border, who endured similar sufferings, and were compelled to exhibit like firmness and self-reliance in the hour of danger or of necessity. Miner Robbins, who was a nephew of Mrs. York, was fatally wounded about the middle of June, 1778, while on a scout up the river. About 1786 the York family re- turned to their old home. Their house, though standing, was considerably dilapidated, their fences were decayed, and their clearings covered with bushes. During their eight years' absence things had remained very nearly as they left them, except what had resulted from the want of care and labor; even the stick of wood which Mrs. York's son was chopping when he saw the Indians coming with his father, lay upon the ground just as he left it. A less spirited and earnest woman, under such circum-,
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stances and surrounded by such painful associations, would have given up all hope and sat down in despair. But her son, who had now become a young man, meeting his responsibilities with manly courage, and aided by his mother's counsel, with great energy set about repairing the injury their farm had sustained during their absence, and his labors were attended with so much success that he was able in a short time to place the family be- yond the reach of want. Mrs. York was a prominent woman in the little community where she lived. She died in Wysox Octo- ber 30, 1818, and was buried in Wyalusing. She was the mother of twelve children. Her house was the home of the first Pres- byterian minister. Her only son who lived to manhood's days was Manasseh Miner York, who became a Presbyterian minister. He was well known and greatly respected and beloved. Abund- ant in labor, fervent in his zeal for the truth, a consistent Chris- tian, he died in Wysox and is buried in the old burying ground in the rear of the brick church.
John Smith, M. D., son of Benjamin Smith, M. D., and father of Mrs. Esther Parrish, was born in Kingston November 4, 1789. The paternal homestead was on the main road leading from Kingston to Pittston at or near the old Maltby store house. He commenced the practice of medicine at Wyoming in 1812, and there remained until 1835. On August 2, 1819, he was commis- sioned by William Findlay, governor of Pennsylvania, a justice of the peace for the townships of Dallas, Kingston, and Plymouth. This office he held for a number of years. In 1835 he removed to Wilkes-Barre, and on January 15, 1836, was appointed, by Gov- ernor Ritner, prothonotary, clerk of the Courts of Quarter Ses- sions, Oyer and Terminer, and Orphans' Court of Luzerne county. On January 3, 1839, he was re-appointed by Mr. Ritner to the same offices for another term of three years. Upon the expira- tion of his term of office he continued to practice his profession in Wilkes-Barre until the time of his death, which occurred on August 24, 1869. The wife of Dr. John Smith was Mehitable Jenkins, daughter of Thomas Jenkins, of Exeter township. She was the granddaughter of Judge John Jenkins, of Wyoming.
The successful lawyer of two hundred years ago, and even less, counseled and pleaded with a ponderousness that was awe-
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inspiring to the unlettered. Every other sentence was a legal maxim in the original Latin, and if the parties to the suit and the jurors were not edified and instructed they were, at least, deeply impressed with the wonderful learning of the counselor and ad- vocate. The successful lawyer of to-day is he whose briefs have the merit of brevity in addition to sufficiency, and whose ad- dresses to court and jury are least pedantic and most perspicuous to the common understanding. Mr. Fuller is as yet compara- tively young in years and young at the bar, but he has already given conclusive evidence of his liability to pluck the flower suc- cess from the seed of a plain common sense cultivated and brought to fruition by patient and unassuming industry. He may be said to have inherited inclination and talent for the law, and he has certainly, by a judicious utilization thereof, gained an enviable reputation for one so young. His service as assistant to District Attorney (now judge) Rice was a valuable schooling, of which he made the best possible use. He makes no pretensions to oratory, but pleads, nevertheless, with remarkable ingenuity and force. His practice is one of the largest enjoyed by the junior members of the bar, is a paying practice, and may be depended upon to increase as the years go by. He is one of the few of the younger lawyers, in fact, who will fall heir, by reason of their recognized professional merit, to the business the older ones must surrender as they are called in their turn to appear at the bar of the highest of all courts. Mr. Fuller is a republican in politics, much respected in his party, and if his ambition should so incline him, may reasonably hope for official preferment at its hands. He is in every particular a good citizen and a worthy gentleman.
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