USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. III > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
1244
EDMUND TAYLOR.
when loaded and coming up the river in swift water. At the stern of the boat was a long oar for steering and keeping the boat steady while the polemen were walking up and down. The steerman was the captain and a man of no little consequence. He had a trumpet or horn-a loud sounding affair that sent its musical notes from hill to hill as he approached the towns along the river. At the sound of the boat horn all the boys and girls within hearing would rush to the river shore, for the sight of a Durham boat was as exciting to the juvenile of that day as Barnum's circus would be now. Mr. Wilson for a time had an interest in one of these boats, and went with it as captain. About the time Mr. Wilson was engaged in the boating business a fam- ily by the name of Baker removed from Connecticut and settled in Forty Fort, near where Mr. Wilson lived. Stephen Baker and his wife were members of the first Methodist class in Wyoming, at Ross Hill. In Doctor Peck's "Early Methodism" he says : "On December 2 (1793), Mr. Colbert is at Stephen Baker's, in Kingston, where he preached, and Brother Turck formed four bands. Baker lived on the old road. between Forty Fort and Wilkes-Barre, on what is now called the Church place. This was thenceforth a place of resort and rest for the preachers, and frequently a preaching place." Mrs. Baker soon after was killed by lightning while sitting in her house on the side of her bed. Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Stephen Baker, and Elnathan Wil- son were married in May, 1798, by Rev. Anning Owen, the first Methodist preacher at Wyoming. She was but fifteen years of age at the time. Mrs. Baker was a sister of the celebrated American traveler, John Ledyard, who sailed around the world with Captain Cook, and was on the shore with Cook when he was killed by the savages of the Sandwich Islands. He died in Cairo, Egypt, while on another trip around the world. In 1811 Mr. Wilson leased the old ferry house, about five acres of land and the ferry with its equipments of flats and skiffs, for one hun- dred dollars per year. He took in the first year three thousand dollars, besides his living. He often took in thirty and forty dollars a day in summer time. He also kept a hotel. The trouble brewing between Great Britain and this country, that resulted in the war of 1812, caused thousands of families of the
I245
EDMUND TAYLOR.
Yankee states to move to the far west, which by the way is not the far west of our day. The great bulk of immigration was to what was then called "The Holland Purchase," a large piece of good land in the western part of the state of New York that had been bought many years before by a company of Hollanders who now offered it for sale at a low price to settlers. Thousands took advantage of this offer, traveling mostly by the route that led them to cross the Susquehanna river at Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Wilson also had the ferry in 1812, and took in an additional three thousand dollars. At the end of this time travel began to decrease, and Mr. Wilson gave up the ferry. He then built a store house and dwelling in Kingston and commenced the mer- cantile business. Trade was brisk and profits large. The price of goods began rapidly to decline after the treaty of peace in 1815, and Mr. Wilson disposed of his goods for lumber and car- penter work and built a large hotel in Kingston. Three-fourths of those in the mercantile business in the valley failed. Mr. Wil- son sold his dwelling and store house to Gilbert Lewis and moved into the hotel, which was the largest building in Kingston. He 'also built another two-story house and boarded the hands who built the large stone house of James Barnes, which is still stand- ing across the street a hundred feet below the hotel which Mr. Wilson kept. He kept the hotel for several years. Napthali Hurlbut also kept a hotel in Kingston at the same time. The Wilson house for years was the home of the itinerant Methodist preachers. Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, Rev. George Lane, Rev. Marmaduke Pearce, Rev. George Peck, and a score of others liked, in their travels round their circuits, to stop with brother and sister Wilson. He afterwards sold his hotel and other real estate in Kingston and moved to the Wilkes-Barre bridge house, where he lived until his death. Mr. Wilson was born February 23, 1762, and died in March, 1837. His wife, Elizabeth Baker, was born December 19, 1782, and died October 10, 1840. Their daughter, Mary, the wife of Judge Taylor, was born August II, 1804, and died May, 1883. Judge Taylor in early life connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was a class leader. In 1838 he joined the Presbyterian church and continued in that communion until his death. He learned the
I246
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
saddlers' trade with his brother, Arnold Taylor, in Kingston, and he carried on that business in this city from 1828 up to with- in a few years of his death. Judge Taylor was treasurer of Lu- zerne county from November, 1857, to 1859. He left to survive him five children-Thomas Taylor; Elizabeth, wife of E. H. Chase of this city; John Taylor; Bethlehem, Pa .; Edmund Taylor, New York ; and Mary A. White, wife of Samuel White, Lawrence, Massachusetts.
ANGELO JACKSON.
Angelo Jackson was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 1, 1850. (For a sketch of his life see page 538.)
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
Joseph Wright Miner was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 5, 1850. "Edward III, in going to make war against the French, took a progress through Somersett, and coming to Mendippi colles minerari Mendippi Hills, in Somersett, where lived one Henry Miner his name being taken rather a denominatione lo ci et ab officio, who with all carefullness and loyaltie, having con- vened all his domesticall and meniall servants, armed with battle axes, profered himself and them to his master's services, making a compleat hundred. Wherefore he had his coat armoriall gules, signifying miner, red another demonstration of the original of the surname a fesse (id est cingulum militaire, because obtained by valor,) betwixt three plates argent, another demonstration of the arms, for there could be no plates without mines." Henry died in 1359. He had a son William, who had a son Thomas, who married in 1399, who had a son Lodowick, died in 1480, who had a son Thomas, born in 1436, who had a son William, who had a son William, died in 1585, who had a son Clement, died in 1640, who was the father of Thomas. He was evidently a man of note and influence. Thomas Miner was born in England in 1608, and came to Connecticut in 1643. He had a son Clement, born in 1640, died
1
-
1247
JOSEPHI WRIGHT MINER.
1700, who had a son Clement, born 1663, died 1747, who had a son Hugh, born 1710, died 1753, who had a son Seth Miner, born 1742, of Norwich, Conn. He was a commissioned officer in the militia, a zealous whig, and at the first alarm hastened to Boston with jour- neymen and apprentices. A man of strong mind and ardent feelings, he entered upon the expedition with zeal, and he used to tell of attending General Jedediah Huntington when visiting the outposts on Dorchester Heights in the early morning when the enemy from the town opened fire from their cannon and several times covered them with earth thrown up by the balls. As a member of the Connecticut-Delaware Land Company, Seth Mi- ner had a claim in the territory so long in dispute between the proprietaries of Pennsylvania and the colony and state of Con- necticut under the charter of King Charles II, and his son, Charles Miner, was deputed to come out to the Susquehanna to look after his interests there. Charles Miner was the father of William Penn Miner, of the Luzerne bar. (See page 42.) The wife of Seth Miner was Anna Charlton. Asher Miner, son of Seth Miner, was born in Norwich, Conn., March 3, 1778. He served an apprenticeship of seven years in the office of the Gasctte and Commercial Intelligencer, at New London, Conn., and afterwards worked as a journeyman a year in New York. In 1799 his brother, Charles Miner, who had already pitched his fortunes on the semi-savage frontier of Wyoming, wrote to him, "Come out here and I will set you up," without having a dollar to make good his promise. Nevertheless, Asher Miner migrated to the Susquehanna. In 1795 two young men came to Wilkes-Barre from Philadelphia with a small press and a few cases of type. They printed the Herald of the Times, the first newspaper pub- lished in the county. It was issued for a short time and was then sold to Thomas Wright, and published by Josiah Wright under the name of the Wilkes-Barre Gasette. The first number was dated November 29, 1797. In 1801 it ceased to be published. Asher Miner worked in the office of the Gazette, and in a short time afterward established the Luzerne County Federalist in this city, the first number being issued January 5, 1801. In April, r802, he took his brother Charles into copartnership, which con- tinued until May, 1804, when Asher relinquished his interest to
1248
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
Charles. The press on which the Federalist was printed was brought from Norwich on a sled. In severing his connection with the Federalist an invitation was given to exchanges to send copies to him at Doyles-Town, Pennsylvania, where he had already resolved to establish a newspaper. He went immediately to Doylestown, where he found (what is now a beautiful town of twenty-five hundred inhabitants) a cross-road hamlet with less than a dozen dwellings along the Easton road and the road from Swede's ford to Coryell's ferry, now State street. The first issue of the new paper, Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmers' Adver- tiser, which afterwards became the Bucks County Intelligencer, appeared July 7, 1804. Mr. Miner said, in his address to the public : "The editor is by birth an American, in principles a federal republican. His private sentiments with regard to the adminis- tration of the government of his country, he will maintain and avow as becomes a freeman. In his public character as conductor of the only newspaper printed in the county he will act with that impartiality which prudence and duty require." It was a small medium sheet, and the appearance of the paper created quite a sensation. The first issue was largely given away. It was left at a few points in the central part of the county by carriers, and subscribers were charged twenty-five cents additional for delivering their papers. The aforesaid newspaper proved a success, and its founder remained in charge of it twenty-one years. Prosperity authorized the enlargement of the paper, in July, 1806, from a medium to a royal sheet. On September 22, 1806, Asher Miner announced that he intended to issue a prospectus for a monthly magazine, literary, moral and agricul- tural, which probably was never published. For several years the advertising was light, but there was a notable increase be- tween 1815 and 1820. In 1816, when preparations were making to commence the publication of the Doylestown Democrat, Mr. Miner protested against it in an address to the public, which he thought "may not be ill-timed," on the ground that the parties were nearly equally divided and a party paper was not needed. In the spring of 1816 Mr. Miner contemplated publishing a "monthly literary and agricultural register," to be called the Olive Branch, and sent out his subscription papers, but as they
1249
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
were not returned with enough names to warrant it, the project was given up. In April, 1817, he opened a branch office at New- town in charge of Simon Siegfried. He proposed to issue from that office a weekly paper, to be called The Star of Freedom, to be devoted principally to "agricultural, biographical, literary and moral matters." The first number appeared May 21, 1817. This was a movement to keep competition out of the county. A printer at Newtown had a pamphlet in press for the Friends, but being intemperate, he failed to meet his contract, and gave up business. Miner sent Siegfried, an apprentice in his office, down to finish the work. This led to the purchase of the materials and the establishment of a paper there. The size was eighteen by eleven and a half inches, and consisted of eight pages. It was published weekly, "at $2 per annum if taken from the office, or $2.25 if delivered by post." It contained little news and but few advertisements. The publication was suspended April 7, 1818. Mr. Miner was postmaster of Doylestown several years, and kept the office at the printing office, and he had also a small book store, where he kept various articles for sale besides, and among them physic in the shape of "antiseptic pills," which he retailed. He gave up the post office in March, 1821. In 1818 the name of the paper was changed to Pennsylvania Correspondent, making one line reaching entirely across the head. On September 24, 1824, after an active editorial life of twenty years, Mr. Miner sold the Correspondent to Edward Morris and Samuel R. Kramer, of Philadelphia. The sale was hardly concluded before he repented and begged to have it annulled, but did not succeed. Mr. Miner removed from Doylestown to West Chester, Pa., and formed a partnership with his brother Charles in the publication of the Village Record. In 1834 they sold out to the late Henry S. Evans, when the brothers returned to Wilkes-Barre, where Asher Miner died March 13, 1841. He was a devout christian and a member of the Presbyterian church. Asher Miner was an able writer and besides a prominent business man. He had the fac- ulty of making friends, and when once made they were retained.
The wife of Asher Miner, whom he married May 19, 1800, was Mary Wright, a daughter of Thomas Wright, born in county Down, Ireland, in 1747, a wealthy merchant and land owner of
I250
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
. Wilkes-Barre. Thomas Wright was a good-looking young Irish- man, who, landing at Philadelphia about 1763, was soon in charge of a school at Dyerstown, two miles north of Doylestown. Se- curing a home in the family of Josiah Dyer, he taught the rudi- ments of English to the children of the neighborhood and love to Mary, the daughter of his host. One day they slipped off to Philadelphia and were married, which relieved the case of a deal of difficulty, for in that day Friends could not consent to the marriage of their daughters out of meeting. Mr. Wright in a few years removed to Wilkes-Barre, and became the founder of Wrightsville, now the borough of Miner's Mills. He built a mill there in 1795, which has been in the possession of his descend- ants since-2, Asher Miner; 3, Robert Miner; 4. C. A. Miner ; 5, Asher Miner-five generations. In 1795, 1796, 1800 and 1801 Thomas Wright was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county, and was one at the time the early court house and jail was erected.
The following is a copy of the marriage certificate of Asher Miner and Mary Wright. The original is in the possession of Hon. Charles A. Miner, their grandson. General William Ross, who performed the marriage ceremony was a justice of the peace in this city, and was the grandfather of Mrs. Charles A. Miner.
"This may certify that Asher Miner and Mary Wright, both , of Wilkes-Barre, having the consent of friends and no objections appearing, were joined in marriage, each to the other, before me, on the nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred. Witness my hand and seal.
WVM. ROSS, [L. S.]
In presence of the undersigned witnesses.
THOMAS WRIGHT, MARY WRIGHT,
JOSEPH WRIGHT, JOSIAH WRIGHT,
WILLIAM WRIGHT, THOMAS WRIGHT, JR.,
. LORD BUTLER, WILLIAM CALDWELL,
ROSWELL WELLS, BENJAMIN DRAKE,
LUTHER WRIGHT, HANNAH WEILL,
ELIZA Ross, SARAH WRIGHT,
ANNA WRIGHT.
In confirmation whereof they have hereunto set their hands, she, according to the custom of marriage, assuming the name of her husband.
ASHER MINER, MARY MINER."
1251
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
Mr. and Mrs. Miner had a family of thirteen children. His eldest son was the late Thomas Wright Miner, M. D., of this city. His next eldest son, Robert Miner, was the father of Hon. Charles A. Miner, of this city. His twelfth child was Joseph W. Miner, who became a member of the Luzerne bar. J. W. Miner was born at Doylestown January 29, 1825, and was the son of Asher Miner. He read law with Harrison Wright, in this city. During the Mexican war he was a member of Company I, First Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, going as fourth sergeant and returning as first lieutenant. In 1853, in connection with his cousin, William P. Miner, he established the Record of the Times newspaper. Mr. Miner was an unmarried man, and died in Plains township February 5, 1859.
Robert Miner, a brother of J. W. Miner, was the third child and second son of Asher Miner, and was born in Doylestown August 8, 1805. At the age of fourteen years his father had so much confidence in his ability, which was inspired by his un- common seriousness and stability of character, that he sent him to Wilkes- Barre to take charge of his agricultural, milling and mining interests in the Wyoming valley. During the following year, while visiting a camp meeting near Kingston, the opportu- nity his serious and religious nature longed for presented itself, and he joined the Methodist Episcopal church. Doctor Peck, in his History of Early Methodism, says: "Robert Miner, son of Asher Miner, Esq., was a beautiful little boy when he was con- verted and united with the church ; but even then he had about him the gravity and the dignity of mature years. He was a de- voted and consistent christian, and for years class leader and steward in the Wilkes-Barre charge. He died in great triumph in the prime of life, and was universally lamented. He was one of the few of whom no one ever said anything but good." He married, January 3, 1826, Eliza Abbott, a daughter of Stephen Abbott, of Wilkes-Barre (now Plains) township. Charles Miner, in his Hazleton Travellers, has the following in regard to the Abbott family :
"On the other side of the river, opposite Forty Fort, lives Ste- phen Abbott, a respectable and independent farmer. His father, John Abbott, was an early settler in Wyoming. There was one
WYOMING
WILKES-EAARE
00
HIST.
S
: 01
1252
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
cannon, a four-pounder, in the Wilkes-Barre fort, and it had been agreed upon that, when certain information came that the enemy was dangerously near, the gun should be fired as a signal. At work on the flats, with his son, a lad eight or nine years old, he heard the terrific sound come booming up. Where, or how near the enemy might be, of course he could not tell; but loosening the oxen from the cart, he hastened to the rendezvous. He was in the battle, and fought side by side with his fellows to defend their homes. It makes my heart bleed to recur, as in these sketches I am obliged to do so often, to the retreat of our people. Again and again I aver there was no dishonor in it. I do not believe a braver or more devoted set of men ever marched forth to battle ; but remember, a great part of the fighting men, those fit for war, raised for the defence of Wyoming, were away, defending the country, to be sure-fighting in the thrice glorious cause of inde- pendence, most certainly-but leaving their own homes wholly exposed, so that our little army was made up of such of the set- tlement as were left, who could carry a gun, however unfit to meet the practiced and warlike savage, and the well trained rangers of the British Butler. Mr. Abott took his place in the ranks. He had a wife and nine children (the eldest boy being only eleven) depending on his protection, labor and care. If a man so circumstanced had offered his services to Washington, the general would have said, 'My friend, I admire your spirit and patriotism, but your family cannot dispense with your services without suffering-your duty to them is too imperious to per- mit you to leave them, even to serve your country.' Such would have been the words of truth and soberness. But the emergency allowed no exemption. In the retreat Mr. Abbott fled . to the river at Monocasy Island, waded over to the main branch, and, not being able to swim, was aided by a friend and escaped. In the expulsion which followed, taking his family he went down the Susquehanna as far as Sunbury. What could he do ? Home, harvest, cattle-all hopes of provision for present and future use were at Wyoming. Like a brave man who meets danger and struggles to overcome it-like a faithful husband and fond father -he looked on his dependent family and made his resolve. Mr. Abbott returned in hopes of securing a part of his excellent har-
0
1253
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
vest which he had left ripening in his fields. I am somewhat more particular in mentioning this, my friend, for I wish, as you take an interest in this matter, to impress this important fact upon your mind-that our people, though sorely struck, though suffer- ing under a most bloody and disastrous defeat, did not lie down idly in despair without an effort to sustain themselves. No; the same indomitable spirit which they had manifested in overcoming previous difficulties still actuated them. Mr. Abbott came back, determined, if possible, to save from his growing abundance the means of subsistence. He went upon the flats to work with Isaac Williams. Mr. Abbott and Mr. Williams were ambushed by the savages, and both murdered and scalped. There is a ravine on the upper part of the plantation of Mr. Hollenback, above Mill Creek, where they fell. All hope was now extin- guished, and Mrs. Abbott (her maiden name was Alice Fuller), with a broken heart, set out with her nine children (judge ye how helpless and destitute !) to find their way to Hampton, an eastern town in Connecticut, whence they had emigrated. Their loss was total. House burnt, barn burnt, harvests all devastated, cat- tle wholly lost, valuable title papers destroyed-nothing saved from the desolating hand of savage ruin and tory vengeance. 'God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.' They had between two and three hundred miles to travel, through a country where patience and charity had been already nearly exhausted by the great number of applicants for relief. But they were sus- tained, and, arrived at their native place, the family was sepa- "ated, and found homes and employment among the neighboring farmers. Here they dwelt for several years, until the boys, grown to manhood, were able to return, claim the patrimonial lands, again to raise the cottage and the byre, and once more to gather mother and children around the domestic hearth, tasting the charms of independence and the blessings of home."
"An interesting case, most certainly. Besides the loss of a father, the direct loss of property must have been considerable- more than a thousand dollars, I should suppose. I confess it appears to me very plain, that the continental congress, having drawn away the men of war raised for the defence of Wyoming. thereby brought down the enemy on a defenceless place, and
5
r
1254
JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
were the cause of its sufferings and losses, and that the national government is, therefore, by every consideration of justice and honor, though late postponed, bound to make good to the suffer- ers the losses sustained. Did you say that Mrs. Abbott, the widow, also returned ?"
"Yes, and long occupied the farm where her husband fell. She was afterwards married to a man whose name was known as widely as the extent of the settlement; a shrewd man, a great reader, very intelligent, distinguished far and near for the sharp- ness of his wit, the keenness of his sarcasm, the readiness of his repartees, and the cutting pungency of his satire ; withal not un- amiable, for in the domestic circle he was kind and clever, and she lived happily with him. But his peculiar talent being known for many years, every wit and witling of the country 'round about thought he must break a lance with him. Constantly assailed, tempted daily 'to the sharp encounter,' armed at all points like the 'fretful porcupine,' cut and thrust, he became expert from practice as he was gifted by nature for that species of warfare. All the old people, in merry mood, can tell of onslaught and overthrow of many a hapless wight who had the temerity to pro- voke a shaft from the quiver of old Mr. Stephen Gardiner."
"You began by speaking of Mr. Stephen Abbott. Did he marry before he returned from Connecticut, or did he take a ' Wyoming girl to wife-a daughter, as he was the son, of one of the revolutionary patriots ?"
"You shall hear. He married a Searle. Having resettled on the patrimonial property, ¿ fruitful soil, industry and economy brought independence in their train. Could you look upon the expelled orphan boy of 1778, pattering along, his little footsteps beside his widowed mother and the other orphan children, as they were flying from the savage, and contrast his then seemingly hopeless lot with the picture now presented, you would say, 'It is well.' In a very neat white house himself, his four children living near, each also occupies a white house, all of which are the abodes of agricultural independence and comfort. Mr. Abbott has a second wife, having married Sarah a daughter of Colonel Nathan Denison. Now past seventy, the old gentleman enjoys ex- cellent health. The canal passes through his farm, and a coal mine
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.