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 20
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opened near its banks yields him a revenue equal to every rea- sonable desire. Long may they live to enjoy it."
The Hazleton Travelers also contains the following in relation to the Searle family :
"In reply to your question, I said that Mr. Stephen Abbott married a Searle-Abigail, daughter of William Searle, who was the son of Constant Searle. The last named (Mrs. Abbott's grand- father) was in the battle. He was a man advanced in age, having several sons and daughters married, and being the grandfather of a number of children."
"What! Old men! Grandfathers! Were such obliged to go out ?"
"They were ; the able-bodied men, fit for war, being marched away, the direful necessity was created which drew to the battle- field old and young. Mr. Searle was there, and a son of his, Roger Searle, quite a young man. His son-in-law, Captain Deathic Hewett, commanded the third company raised at Wyo- ming, by order of congress, a very short time before the invasion. So there were three of the family in the engagement; and the fourth (William Searle ) would also have been there, but was at the time confined to the house by a wound received from a rifle shot while on a scouting party a few days previous to the battle. How unsuitable it was that a man like old Mr. Searle should go out will further appear from the fact that he wore a wig, as was not unusual with aged men in those days. The bloody savages, in their riotous joy after their victory, made this wig a source of great merriment. A prisoner (adopted, I have reason to think, after the Indian fashion) was painted and then permitted to go down from Wintermoot's to Forty Fort, under a guard, to take leave of his mother. When near the brook that runs by Colonel Denison's he saw a group of savages in high glee. On coming nearer he beheld an Indian on a colt, with a rope for a bridle, having on his head, hind side before, the wig of Mr. Searle. The colt would not go, and one of the wretches pricked him with his spear ; he sprang suddenly, the Indian fell on one side, the wig on the other, and the demons raised a yell of delight. Mr. Searle, before he went out to battle, took off a pair of silver knee buckles which he wore-gave them to his family, saying they might im-
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JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
pede his movements; if he fell, he would not need, and if he returned, he could get them. There was evidently a strong pre- sentiment on his mind-'I go to return no more.' The foregoing incident I find myself reluctant to relate; it appears like awakening light thoughts in the midst of anguish, sorrow and despair; but it seems proper that those things should be set forth which make deep impressions of material faets, and I deem it a very important matter, in considering the battle, the defeat, and the present claim of our people, to show that old men, unfit for war, were, by the necessity of the ease, forced into the field against trained, youth- ful and expert warriors. The very young also were there. Roger Searle, the son of Constant, a young man of eighteen or nineteen, stood by the side of William Buek, a lad of fourteen ; they fought together, Buek fell, and Searle eseaped. William Searle, Mrs. Abbott's father, went out through the wilderness with the family, having twelve women and children under his care. I have seen a memorandum book kept by him. It runs thus: 'Battle of Westmoreland, July 3, 1778. Capitulation ye 4th. Prisoners obtained liberty to leave the settlement ye 7th.' It proceeds to the 25th, when they arrived at their former residenee in Stonington, Connectieut. On the 13th they got to Fort Penn, on the Dela- ware, and here they received from Colonel Stroud a pass and recommendation, a copy of which may not be unaeceptable as a memorial of old times :"
"'Permit the bearers, Serg't Wm. Searle with twelve women and children, in company with him, to pass unmolested to some part of the State of Connecticut, where they may be able, by their industry, to obtain an honest living, they being part of the un- happy people drove off from Wyoming by the Tories and Indians, and are truly stripped and distressed, and their circumstances call for the charity of all Christian people; and are especially recommended by me to all persons in authority, civil and mili- tary, and to all continental offieers and commissaries, to issue provisions and other necessaries for their relief on the road.
"'Given under my hand at Fort Penn, July 14, 1778.
"'JACOB STROUD, Col.'
"Four of the name, to wit, Roger, William, Constant and Miner Searle, were forty-five years ago among the most intelligent and
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influential citizens upon the Lackawanna, but they all departed in mid-life. Constant, who was in the battle, died at Providence, Pa., August 4, 1804, aged 45 years. Their descendants retain, or possess, several of the most valuable farms in old Westmoreland, while one at least, whom we could name, from a female branch of the family, is winning his way to distinction in an arduous and honorable profession."
Robert Miner was engaged at the mill of his father at Wrights- ville for several years after his marriage. It had burned down either early in 1826 or late in 1825, and Mr. Miner rebuilt it for his father. In 1833, in connection with Eleazer Carey, Mr. Miner purchased the Wyoming Herald newspaper. These gen- tlemen conducted the paper until 1835, at which time it was merged in the Wyoming Republican, which was then published in Kingston. The Hazleton Coal Company was incorporated March 18, 1836. From Mr. Miner's diary we have the following :
"1836, Nov. 1. Came to Hazleton to be clerk for company on trial ; no terms fixed. Board at the old Drumheller house tavern kept by Lewis Davenport. The company's office is the lower room of an addition built on the east end of old house. Railroad located and contracts just assigned. Village laid out.
"Nov. 10, 1836. Town lots were laid out and sold by com- pany. Wages offered for 'good hands' are : $16.00 a month with board on Sundays. Fresh pork is, by the hog, 8c .; corn meal, $1.1212; rye chop, $1.25 ; Oats, 50c .; coal, $1.75 ton.
"1837. First dwelling put up and occupied by Chas. Edson ; lot No. 9, sq. 11. Then by S. Yost, F. Santee, T. Peeler. Store and house by L. H. and J. Ingham. R. Miner ; Hotel.
"4th of July (1837), moved my family from Wyoming valley -Plains-to Hazleton, in house I have just finished on corner of Broad and Poplar streets.
"L. Davenport moved to hotel 23d October, W. Apple taking the old house.
"First birth of child in Hazleton Oct. 9-W. Apple's, born in house at junction of old state road and turnpike-daughter. 2d, child of F. Santee, blacksmith. 3d, my son-John Howard Miner.
"First corpse interred in grave yard was wife of Th. B. Worth- ington, in the fall of 1837.
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"Locomotive 'Hazleton' first one on the railroad."
The position of Mr. Miner at Hazleton was secretary of the Hazleton Coal Company. He kept the books, paid out money, and made purchases. The company commenced shipping coal in May, 1837, Mr. Miner, secretary, and A. Pardee, superinten- dent. This continued until 1840, when the firm of Pardee, Miner & Company was formed. The company part of the firm was Mr. Hunt, a miner. They mined coal by contract and delivered it into boats at Penn Haven. Mr. Miner's health failed in 1841, when Mr. Pardee bought him out, and he removed to his old home in Plains township. The next year Mr. Hunt's health also failed, and Mr. Pardee bought him out also. After that J. G. Fell came in, and the firm of Pardee & Co. was formed. In No- vember, 1842, Mr. Miner had business of importance to at- tend to in Easton and Philadelphia. He traveled in a private carriage with his brother, Joseph W. Miner, and they returned home December 9. That night Robert Miner was taken vio- lently ill and died before morning. He has been described as of "peculiar and substantial worth," "at all times cheerful and happy, with power to raise those emotions in others. His life was an exemplification of the true greatness to which many may attain through a mastery over self. His piety, charity and urbanity became a part of his existence ; to do good to his fellow creatures was the pleasure of his life." "He was polite without show, charitable without ostentation, and religious without bigotry." "In business he was punctual and exact, and such was the bur- then he took upon himself in whatever he engaged in, that those coming after him found little to do." This is the description given of him by one who appeared to have known him long and had an extended intercourse with him. In an obituary notice by Rev. J. Seys he is spoken of as having manifested "from a child one of the mildest and most amiable dispositions," and as being "admired and loved by all who knew him." Mr. Miner had three children, only one of whom, Charles Abbot Miner, sur- vives. The other two died in infancy. Helen Elizabeth lived less than a year, and John Howard died at the age of six years.
Charles A. Miner was born in Plains township August 30, 1830, and received his education at the academy in this city and
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JOSEPH WRIGHT MINER.
at West Chester, Pa. Since attaining his majority he has been engaged in the milling business. The first grist mill erected at Wrightsville, now the borough of Miner's Mills, was built by Mr. Miner's great-grandfather, Thomas Wright. His partner is his son, Asher Miner. Mr. Miner has been connected with most of the successful business enterprises of Wilkes-Barre. For fifteen years he has been the president of the Coalville (Ashley) Passen- ger Railway Company, and for twenty years a director. For fifteen years he was president of the board of directors of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital. He was president for eleven years of the Wilkes-Barre and Harry Hillman academy in this city. For twenty-one years he has been a director of the Wyoming National bank. He was also a director in the People's bank of this city. He is a vestryman in St. Stephen's Protestant Epis- copal church. He is chairman of the committee on legislation and taxation in the Wilkes-Barre Board of Trade, and a director and member of the executive committee of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital. For a number of years he was a member of the city council of Wilkes-Barre, and has been president of that body. He has been president of the Luzerne County Agricultural So- ciety and of the Pennsylvania Millers' State Association, and in 1873 he represented this state as honorary commissioner at the world's exhibition at Vienna, Austria. From 1875 to 1880 he represented this city in the legislature of the state. In 1881 he was the candidate of the republican party of the county for state senate, but was defeated by Eckley B. Coxe. Wilkes-Barre con- tains no more popular citizen within its limits that Mr. Miner. He married, January 19, 1853, Eliza Ross Atherton, a daughter of Elisha Atherton (see page 528) and his wife, Caroline Ross Maffet. (See page 295.) Mr. and Mrs. Miner have a family of four children-Asher Miner, a partner of his father in the milling business-was educated at the Wilkes-Barre academy and Wil- liston seminary, Easthampton, Mass .; Elizabeth Miner; Sidney Robie Miner, a graduate of Harvard university in the class of 1888, now a law student in the office of L. D. and R. C. Shoe- maker; and Charles Howard Miner, a student at Princeton uni- versity in the class of 1890.
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ARNOLD COLT LEWIS.
ARNOLD COLT LEWIS.
Arnold Colt Lewis, who was admitted to the Luzerne county bar August 5, 1850, was a descendant of Hon. William Lewis, of Philadelphia, being his great-grandson. (See page 817.) His grandfather was Josiah Lewis, and his father was the late Sharp Delaney Lewis, a native of Philadelphia, where he was born Jan- uary 2, 1805, who was a printer by trade, a knowledge of which craft he acquired in the office of Samuel Maffett, publisher of the Susquehanna Register. From 1824 to 1831 S. D. Lewis, in con- nection with Chester A. Colt, published the Susquehanna Demo- crat, in this city. In 1832 Mr. Lewis established the Wyoming Republican, in Kingston, and edited it with ability until 1837, when the press and material was sold to Dr. Thomas W. Miner, who removed it to Wilkes-Barre. Stewart Pearce, in his "Annals of Luzerne County," says : "We feel that we hazard nothing in saying that the Republican, from its birth until its death, was one of the best and most ably conducted papers in the county, and no one can peruse its old files without lively interest and admi- ration." In 1843 Mr. Lewis purchased the Wilkes-Barre Advo- cate and continued to publish it until 1853, when he sold the paper to W. P. and Joseph W. Miner, who changed the name to The Record of the Times. "The History of Wyoming," by Isaac Chapman, a resident of the valley, was printed and published at Wilkes-Barre in 1830, by S. D. Lewis. It contains two hundred and nine pages. It is of the 12 mo. style, and is rarely met with. For a country publication of nearly sixty years ago, it exhibits a fair degree of mechanical skill in respect both to print- ing and binding. From 1847 to 1849 Mr. Lewis was treasurer of Luzerne county. He was also a justice of the peace and alderman in this city for many years. He was also a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a trustee and class leader of the Franklin street M. E. church, and was also a local preacher. In 1835 he was elected a justice of the peace for the townships of Dallas, Kingston, and Plymouth. The wife of S. D. Lewis, and the mother of Arnold C. Lewis, was
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1261
CALEB FRANKLIN BOWMAN.
Mary B. Colt, a daughter of Arnold Colt. (See page 495.) He married for a second wife Deborah Chahoon, the widow of. Anning O. Chahoon, and the daughter of Joseph Slocum, of this city. S. D. Lewis died in this city. Arnold Colt Lewis, son of S. D. Lewis, was born in this city, March 2, 1829. He read law with E. G. Mal- lery, in this city. Soon after his admission to the bar he went to California, where he was an associate judge at Mokelumne Hill. He enlisted in the Mexican war in Company I, First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was first sergeant, and returned with his company at the close of the war as second lieutenant. Dur- ing the late civil war he was major of the Forty-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers. For a punishment given to one of the men of his regiment he was shot by him at Darnellstown, Mary- land, September 22, 1861. Mr. Lewis established, in 1859, the Pittston Free Press. It had a short existence of a few months. He subsequently removed to Catasauqua, Pa., where he was elected burgess in 1860. He was also postmaster. He also edited the Catasauqua Herald. He married, March 19, 1861, Amanda M. Rohn, a daughter of William and Sarah Rohn. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis had one son-Arnold Rohn Lewis-who mar- ried Clara M. Hersh, a daughter of Franklin and Emma Hersh.
CALEB FRANKLIN BOWMAN.
Caleb Franklin Bowman, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., August 5, 1850, was a native of Berwick, Co- lumbia county, Pa., where he was born February 21, 1822. He was a descendant of George Christopher Bauman and his wife, Susan Banks. (See pages 695 and 713.) A tradition in the fam- ily is that the Baumans or Bowmans were German-Swiss, who emigrated to Alsace-a province recently ceded by France to Germany, to which it anciently belonged-and that they finally settled in Prussia ; first at Weisbaden, on the Rhine, and subse- quently at Ems, on the Lahn. Rev. Thomas Bowman, son of Christopher Bowman, was born in Bucks county, Pa., December
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CALEB FRANKLIN BOWMAN.
6, 1760. In 1782 he married Mary Freas, a young lady residing in the neighborhood of the old Bowman farm in Northampton county. When five children were born to them he resolved to remove to the interior of the state. Accordingly, in April, 1793, he and his family left the old farm at Mount Bethel, travelling by wagon by way of Nazareth, Lehighton and Mauch Chunk, to make their new home under trying disadvantages in a wilderness country. Upon their arrival in Briar Creek, in Columbia county, they occupied, temporarily, a log house situated upon the public road leading from Berwick to Orangeville. At this time Rev. Thomas Bowman was a local preacher. He was accustomed to take his horse and saddle-bags and traverse the country from Canada to Baltimore, preaching the Saviour of men in the settle- ments and villages along the Susquehana river, and not unfre- quently he was long delayed from home at various places, con- ducting revivals, gathering converts, organizing societies, visiting from house to house, and so helping to plant the church of his choice abroad the land from lake to sea. He was ordained a reg- ular preacher at Forty Fort by Bishop Asbury July 19, 1807. Soon after he helped to build the Methodist Episcopal Briar Creek stone church, the first and only edifice within a hundred miles of the place at the time. He died at the age of sixty-three years April 9, 1823. His wife died July 4, 1829. Jesse Bow- man, son of Thomas Bowman, was born in 1788, married Anna Brown, of Berwick, in 1809, and died October 30, 1880. In 1842 he visited England. He was recognized as a pioneer in the mat- ter of giving his children a classical education, being among the first in all that community. He was elected a member of the board of trustees of Dickinson college in 1847, which position he held until 1857, when he resigned. He was director of a state bank in Danville, and afterwards also of the National bank of Berwick. In 1839 he was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Wolf, which appointment was for life, or "so long as he should behave himself well." He was also a captain in the state militia. He contributed largely to the erection of the Methodist Episcopal cliurch in Berwick, and also contributed largely to the erection of other churches. He was a class leader for about sixty years. Anna Brown Bowman, wife of Jesse Bow-
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DANIEL RANKIN.
man, was born March 25, 1791, and was the second child born in Berwick. She was the daughter of Bobert Brown, a native of Norwich, England, and Mrs. Mary Barrett (nee Macintosh), a native of the north of Ireland. Mrs. Bowman was the first per- son married in Berwick. She died December 31, 1876. Bishop Thomas Bowman is the nephew of Jesse Bowman. Caleb F. Bowman, son of Jesse Bowman, was educated at the academy at Berwick and at Harford academy, in Susquehanna county, Pa. He read law with James Armstrong, at Williamsport, Pa. Soon after his admission to the Lycoming county bar he removed to Potts- ville, Pa., and opened an office there. He subsequently came to this county and opened an office in Pittston, and in the course of a year he removed to this city, where he resided and continued in the pursuit of his profession to the time of his death, January 25, 1874. In 1872, in company with his wife, he visited England, Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. As a man of business he was successful, and most scrupulously honest. He was for many years clerk of the old borough coun- cil. He married, December 8, 1846, Isabella W. Tallman, of Williamsport. She is the daughter of the late Jeremiah Tallman, a civil engineer and surveyor, a native of New Jersey, and his wife, Maria Brown, a native of White Deer valley, Pa. They resided for many years in Williamsport, and were a prominent and prosperous family. The late General Samuel M. Bowman, of the United States Volunteers, was a brother of Caleb F. Bowman. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman had no children.
DANIEL RANKIN.
Daniel Rankin was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 7, 1850. He was originally from Montgomery county, Pa. He removed to Providence, now a portion of the city of Scranton, and was a journeyman tailor. He read law in Providence with Charles H. Silkman. In 1858 he was a candi-
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date for the legislature on the democratic ticket, but was defeated. At the organization of the mayor's court in Scranton he was elected the clerk of that court. His wife was Sarah A. Chapin, of Wyoming, Pa. He left one son to survive him-Foster Rankin-who died February 19, 1889.
On April 15, 1851, an act entitled "An act to provide for the election of judges of the several courts of this commonwealth, and to regulate certain judicial districts," was passed, and in its last section constituted the eleventh judicial district out of the counties of Luzerne, Wyoming, Montour, and Columbia. Under the provisions of this act Judge Conyngham was elected presi- dent of the district, and was commissioned, November 6, 1851, for the term of ten years, from the first Monday of December, 1851. He was reelected in the year 1861, and was recommis- sioned for a further period of ten years. In the meantime Mon- tour had been annexed to the eighth district, and the counties of Columbia, Sullivan, and Wyoming had been erected into a sepa- rate district-the twenty-sixth. Thus in 1856 Luzerne became a separate judicial district, with Judge Conyngham as president judge. By act of June 27, 1864, Luzerne was authorized, at the next election, to elect an "additional judge," learned in the law. He was required to possess the same qualifications, hold his office by the same tenure, was given the same power, authority and jurisdiction, was subject to the same duties, penalties and pro- visions, and was to receive the same compensation as the presi- dent judge. The governor was directed to appoint until the election, etc. Under this act Henry M. Hoyt, since elected gov- ernor, was appointed to and held the office of additional judge until the first Monday of December, 1867. In the fall election Edmund L. Dana was elected, and was commissioned for the term of ten years from the first Monday of December, 1867. Judge Conyngham resigned in the summer of 1870, and on July 8, 1870, Garrick M. Harding was appointed and commissioned president judge in his stead. He took the required oath on July
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12, 1870. He was elected in the fall, and on November 4, 1870, was commissioned as president judge for the term of ten years from the first Monday of December, 1870. The changes wrought by the constitution of 1874, so far as they are material here, are as follows :
"Whenever a county shall contain forty thousand inhabitants it shall constitute a separate judicial district, and shall elect one judge, learned in the law ; and the general assembly shall pro- vide for additional judges as the business of the said district may require. * *
"All judges required to be learned in the law, except the judges of the Supreme Court, shall be elected by the qualified electors · of the respective districts over which they are to preside. * "
"Any vacancy happening by death, etc., or otherwise, in any court of record, shall be filled by appointment by the governor, to continue till the first Monday of January next succeeding the first general election, which shall occur three or more months after the happening of such vacancy."
"The general assembly shall, at the next session after the adoption of this constitution, designate the several judicial dis- tricts, as required by this constitution, etc."
"The general assembly shall, at the the next succeeding ses- sion after each decennial census, and not oftener, designate the several judicial districts, as required by this constitution."
"Judges learned in the law of any court of record, holding commissions in force at the adoption of this constitution, shall hold their respective offices until their successors shall be duly qualified."
"After the expiration of the terin of any president judge of any Court of Common Pleas, in commission at the adoption of this constitution, the judge of such court, learned in the law, and old- est in commission, shall be president judge thereof, * * * but when the president judge of a court shall be reelected, he shall continue to be president judge of that court."
As has already appeared, Judge Harding as president judge and Judge Dana as additional judge were in commission at the adoption of the constitution. The act of April 9, 1874, desig- nated Luzerne as composing the eleventh district, authorized the
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election of another additional judge, learned in the law, at the next general election, and provided for the election of a successor to the additional judge already in commission, when his term should expire. At the first election held after the passage of this act John Handley was elected additional judge, and in pur- suance of the provisions of the general act of April 30, 1874, was commissioned for the term of ten years from the first Mon- day of January, 1875. At the general election in 1877, William H. Stanton was elected as a successor to Judge Dana, whose term was about expiring, and was commissioned for the term of ten years from the first Monday of January, 1878. Hence, at the time of the erection of the county of Lackawanna, Hon. Garrick M. Harding was president, and Hon. John Handley and Hon. William H. Stanton were additional judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the district. The act of April 17, 1878, pro- vided for the division of and the erection of a new county out of any county containing one hundred and fifty thousand inhab- itants. Section thirteen of the act provided that the judicial, sen- atorial, and representative districts shall remain the same, and that the judges of the several courts of said county, or a major- ity, shall meet and organize the courts thereof. The county of Lackawanna was erected under the provisions of this act. The election was held August 13, 1878, and the final proclamation of the governor was made August 21, 1878. Notwithstanding the express provisions of section thirteen of the act, it was claimed that, as the new county had more than forty thousand inhabit- ants, it became at once a separate judicial district. Recognizing this claim, Governor Hartranft, August 22, 1878, appointed and commissioned Benjamin S. Bentley president judge of the new county, who proceeded to open the court at the time designated in the act. In order to avoid a conflict, Judges Harding, Hand- ley, and Stanton declined to interfere, but in order to test the validity of Judge Bentley's commission, an application was made to the Supreme Court for a mandamus against the former judges. On October 14, 1878, the Supreme Court, holding that the ap- pointment of Judge Bentley was unauthorized, issued a perempt- ory writ against the judges above named, commanding them to open and organize the court, as directed by the act of April 17,
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