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 24
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In 1865 Mr. Merriman, after practicing about a year, had gained many warm friends. The political conventions met that year, and his ambition led him to seek the nomination for assem- bly in his district. The young lawyer made every effort to ob- tain it, but his youth appeared to be the barrier which frustrated his desires. He did not get the nomination; but, nothing daunted, he applied himself more diligently to the labors of his profession, and gradually enlarged his sphere of work until his name became widely known and his practice more extended. Of course, he shared the benefits of being a pupil and associate of Mr. Denison, who aided him in every way possible.
In 1870 Mr. Merriman was elected district attorney on the democratic ticket over Alexander Farnham, Esq. His election to the position of district attorney, and the subsequent oppor- tunities offered him to exhibit the rare abilities that he possessed, gave him- greater notoriety, and brought him still more promi- nently before the public. At the conclusion of his term of office he went back to his professional labors, and was followed by a flattering patronage that brought to him fame and profit. In 1875 Mr. Merriman was made chairman of the democratic county committee, and on October 7, 1876, he was nominated by the democratic convention, assembled in Wilkes-Barre, as their can- didate for congress. After his nomination he devoted nearly all of his time to the interests of his party, working night and day for that purpose. He had planned out an aggressive campaign, and if he had been spared his eloquent voice would have been heard throughout the length and breadth of Luzerne county in defense of those principles which he loved, and for which, it may be justly said, he sacrificed his young, hopeful, and honorable life.
Although Mr. Merriman was the very picture of health, those
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EDGAR LEROY MERRIMAN.
who knew him best were aware that he was a great sufferer from internal disorders, arising from a diseased condition of the kid- neys, heart, and liver, which were greatly aggravated under mental or physical excitement. The strain upon Mr. Merriman's nervous system after his nomination was calculated to inflame the maladies to which he was subject, and though frequently warned against undue excitement and overwork, he still persisted in going on with his labors, notwithstanding that none knew better than himself that he was liable to drop off at any moment. A few days before his death he complained to his friends concern - ing his condition, and though they advised him to retire a short time from the more exciting efforts of the campaign, he failed to act upon their suggestions until it was too late, and on Thursday evening, August 31, he went home to his family in great distress. He retired at once, and his physician was summoned, who, being acquainted with his disorders, applied the usual restoratives. On Friday he was much worse, and other physicians were called in consultation. They all felt that their patient's case was a hope- less one, but they labored hard to relieve him from the terrible agonies which he was enduring. Everything that skill and ex- perience could suggest was brought into requisition, but Mr. Merriman's condition defied the united efforts put forth to restore him, and he continued to suffer and groan until early Sabbath morning, when death mercifully stepped in to relieve him of his agony.
Mr. Merriman was thoroughly conscious until a short time before his death. On Saturday morning Dr. Murphy informed him that there was no hope, that his death was simply a question of endurance. Mr. Merriman comprehended the awful signifi- cance of his physician's information, and replied that he knew he could not live ; but it was reserved for him to say farewell to the wife and children whom he dearly loved, and to a few personal friends gathered around his dying bed. They watched his strug- gles as he neared the dark river, and their hearts were made sadder because of the brave spirit which was yielding itself up in the agonies of physical torture.
Upon the minds of his legal brethren the news of Mr. Merri- man's death fell like a thunderbolt, and when they remembered
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CONRAD SAX STARK.
that his voice would be heard no more, that the breast which heaved with generous impulses was stilled forever, that the bright eye was dimmed, that the eloquent lips were mute and motion- less, the light step palsied, and the great heart of their associate locked in the cold and callous embrace of the dread destroyer, they could utter nothing but sighs, and sink back into a dreamy review of the past, and send out to their dead friend the incense of generous recollections. On May 17, 1866, Mr. Merriman married Ruth Lewis, the daughter of the late Sharp D. Lewis, an old and respected resident of Wilkes-Barre. He died Sun- day, September 3, 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Merriman had a family of three children-Edgar Leroy Merriman, Lewis S. Merriman, and Joseph Ross Merriman. Mrs. Merriman has since married Rev. Charles S. M. Stewart, an Episcopalian minister of Whitestone, N. Y.
-CONRAD SAX STARK.
Conrad Sax Stark was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 30, 1864. He was the great-grandson of Aaron Stark, who fell in the battle and massacre of Wyoming. His grandfather was Daniel Stark, and his father was John D. Stark, of Pittston township, in this county. (See pages 389 and 566.) C. S. Stark was born in what is now Plains township, in this county. April 12, 1836. He entered Wyoming seminary, at Kingston, Pa., in 1854, and afterwards the New York Conference seminary. He graduated from Union college, at Schenectady, N. Y., in the class of 1860. Before, during, and after his college course he taught school successively at Old Forge, Newton, Pittston, White Haven, in the state of Maryland, and for a while was one of the professors at Wyoming seminary. He studied law with W. G. Ward, at Scranton, and commenced the practice of his profession at Pittston. For fifteen years he had a large and increasing prac- tice, enjoying in a remarkable degree and without abatement the confidence and esteem of those who did business with him. He established the People's Savings bank of Pittston. Largely under his management as its president from the first, it was always a safe
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WILLIAM F. CASE.
and reliable institution. In the Methodist Episcopal church, of West Pittston, he was a charter member, trustee, and secretary of the board of trustees. He was also one of its Sabbath school teachers. He married, in early life, Georgia Mosier, a daugh- ter of the late Daniel D. Mosier, of West Pittston. (See page 450.) C. S. Stark died at West Pittston March 26, 1880. He left to survive him his widow and three children-Edgar W. Stark, now a law student in the University of Pennsylvania ; John Stark, and C. S. Stark.
PHILIP THOMAS MYERS.
Philip Thomas Myers, who was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., January 6, 1865, was a native of Kingston, Pa., where he was born May 7, 1839. His father, Madison F. Myers, was a native of Frederick county, Maryland, in which state he was born and reared, and where he resided until the autumn of 1835. His mother was Harriet Myers, youngest daughter of Philip and Martha Bennett Myers, of Forty Fort. Martha Ben- nett, his maternal grandmother, was a daughter of Thomas Ben- nett, one of the original settlers of Wyoming, and one of the forty men who constructed the fort after which Forty Fort took its name. P. T. Myers was educated at Wyoming seminary, Kingston, and studied law in this city with Stanley Woodward. He practiced very little on account of ill health, the result of an accidental shot. Before this accident he was a young man of prominence and ability, and bid fair for a long life of usefulness. He died, February 13, 1878, at Kingston. His sister married the late Hon. A. J. Weaver, of Iowa. He was an unmarried man.
WILLIAM F. CASE.
William F. Case was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., February 20, 1865. He had an office in Shickshinny, in this county. His widow subsequently married Luther M. Chase, of this city.
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ISAAC JOSEPH POST.
ISAAC JOSEPH POST.
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Isaac Joseph Post, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 30, 1866, was a descendant of Richard Post, whose name first appears on the records of Southampton, Long Island, New York, in May 1643, when a home lot was granted to him by the proprietors. In 1681 he is recorded as giving land to his son John, and in 1687 he gave land to his son Joseph. In 1688 he gave his homestead in Littleworth to his son-in-law, Benjamin Foster, and his daughter Martha, the wife of Benjamin Foster, and the last two were to provide for the wants of himself and his wife so long as they lived. He died about 1689. His wife's name was Dorothy. He had a son John, who died in 1687. He had a son Captain John, born in 1674. Captain John Post died March 3, 1741. He had a son Isaac, born 1712, and died May 8, 1785. He had a son Isaac, who died about 1788. He had a son Isaac, born August 12, 1784, at Southampton. He came to Montrose, Pa., with his stepfather, Captain Bartlet Hinds, an officer of the revolution, originally from Boston, who came into what is now Montrose in 1800, as an owner and agent of lands for ex-Governor Huntington, of Connecticut, under the title of that state. During the first years after the arrival of the first family of settlers in Montrose, Isaac Post was the mill boy, and often went down to the mouth of the Wyalusing on horse- back after flour and provisions. He was also the cowboy and hunter; was depended upon mostly for venison, was acknowl- edged to be the best woodsman-surest to keep the points of the compass and find his way home from the chase. He chopped some acres of forest in the upper part of his place before any of the family discovered it, and when it was discovered Captain Hinds supposed some squatter had been trespassing upon his premises. Young Post had done this by hiding his axe ; then tak- ing a gun, as if on a hunt, he would go to his chopping. As he often brought venison home at night no one suspected his busi- ness. He chopped down the first tree in Montrose; helped build the first log house, in 1800; built the first frame house in 1 806; the first store and the first blacksmith shop; was the first post-
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ISAAC JOSEPH POST.
master in ISO8. He also built the first turnpike, 1811-1814; ran the first stage ; was the first treasurer of the county. He passed through military grades from ensign to major, and from 1811 to 1 814 was brigade inspector, and as such had charge of the Danville expedition. He built the academy in 1818; the Baptist meeting house in 1829; was a member of the state legislature in 1828 and 1829, and associate judge of Susquehanna county from 1834 to 1843. He was baptized into the Bridgewater Baptist church in 1810. In 1814 he was challenged by a recruiting officer, Lieutenant Findley, to fight a duel. He did not signify his accept- ance, but Findley, on being told he could shoot a rooster's head off with a pistol, backed down and asked pardon. He gave the county all of the public grounds and half of the lots as marked on the first town plot. There was not, during his life, a public . improvement in which he did not have a prominent part as orig- inator or promoter. He was a prominent republican (as the dem- ocrats were originally called), and in 1817 was a delegate from Susquehanna county to the convention at Harrisburg that nom- inated William Findley for governor. When in the legislature he secured the passage of an act making Susquehanna county a separate election district, when he knew this would defeat his reelection. He married his stepsister, Susana Hinds. Her father, Bartlet Hinds, was born at Middleboro, Massachusetts, April 4, 1755. He was baptized into the Middleboro Baptist church when about sixteen years of age by his father, Elder Ebenezer Hinds, then its pastor, and was the first Baptist church member that came into the county. He had served as a soldier, as private and first lieutenant, and was brevetted captain in the revolutionary army. He was shot through the left lung at the taking of Burgoyne ; was one of the "forlorn hope," claiming to having had command of the detachment at the storming of Stony Point, and first proclaimed "the fort is our own ;" served to the end of the war, after being wounded, in castle duty. He had a diploma entitling him to membership in the society of the Cin- cinatti, formed by officers of the army at the close of the revo- lution. For at least a dozen years after Captain Hinds brought his family to Luzerne (now Susquehanna) county the place was known as the Hinds settlement. He was the first justice of the
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GEORGE PALMER STEELE.
peace. His age, his experience, his native shrewdness and en- ergy of character, and his piety withal fitted him for a pioneer and a prominent actor in all that pertained to the civil and relig- ious interests of a new county. He was greatly valued as a counsellor and faithful adviser. He died October 11, IS22. Rev. Albert L. Post, a Baptist minister, was a son of Isaac Post. His wife was Eleanor Williams, a daughter of Joseph Williams, of Pierstown, Otsego county, N. Y., who located in Susquehanna county in 1809. Isaac J. Post was a son of Rev. A. L. Post. He was born at Montrose June 21, 1837, and graduated from Yale college in the class of 1860. He read law with William and W. H. Jessup, and was admitted to the Susquehanna county bar January 20, 1862. Soon after his admission he entered the army and remained in the service about a year. He then accept- ed a position under the solicitor of the treasury department at Washington. His salary was eighteen hundred dollars a year. He acted there in many intricate cases of litigation for the gov- ernment, being often detailed to settle large disputed claims. He remained in that position until 1866. He then went to Scran - ton and became a member of the law firm of Hand (Alfred) & Post. He married, June 23, 1868, Eliza B. Todd, daughter of I. M. Todd, of the state of New York. Mr. Post died July 10, 1885. Two children survived him-Albert Todd Post and Charles Joseph Post. Mrs. Post resides at Montrose.
THOMAS COLLINS.
Thomas Collins was commissioned an associate judge of Lu- zerne county, Pa., November 9, 1866. He resided in Dunmore, and had a son, Francis D. Collins, a member of the Luzerne county bar. (See page 905.)
GEORGE PALMER STEELE.
George Palmer Steele, who was commissioned an associate judge of Luzerne county, Pa., November 9, 1866, was a grand- son of Peter Steele, a native of New Buffalo, Perry county, Pa.
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GEORGE THOMAS SMITH.
He removed to Northumberland, then to Hanover, in this county, prior to 1790. He lived on the river road below the red tavern, and died there in 1823. He had a son, Joseph Steele, born in Perry county in 1773, who came to Hanover with his father's family. His wife was Sarah Ransom. (See page : 384.) George P. Steele was born in Hanover in 1801. He was a son of Joseph Steele. He was sheriff of Luzerne county from 1841 to 1844, and represented this county in the senate of Pennsylva- nia from 1856 to 1859. His first wife was Susan B. Crisman, a daughter of Abran Crisman, a son of Frederick Crisman, who came to Hanover as early as 1788 and built the red tavern. She died in 1847. They had two children-one, a daughter, became the first wife of F. J. Leavenworth, and the second, a son, Har- rison Steele. They are both deceased. George P. Steele mar- ried, for his second wife, Mrs. Lydia Doak (nee Eldridge.) She was the daughter of Robert Eldridge, a native of New London, Connecticut. George Palmer Steele, of Pittston, is the sole sur- viving issue of this marriage. Mr. Steele, during his life time, was principally engaged in hotel keeping. He erected the Lu- zerne house, at the corner of the public square in this city, which was known for years as Steele's hotel. He sold the same to Ziba Bennett, when the name was changed to the Luzerne house. Mr. Steele died in 1870.
GEORGE THOMAS SMITH.
George Thomas Smith, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 3, 1867, was a son of the late Thomas Smith, of Waverly, Pa. (See page 871.) He was born at Waverly, in 1844, and was educated at Madison academy and the Har- vard law school, Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Smith, at the age of nineteen, took a position in one of the government depart- ments at Washington, D. C., which he held some three years, leaving it to enter Harvard law school. He also held a commis- sion in the signal corps of the army, from which he was hon-
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ROWLAND METCALF KIDDER.
orably discharged. He read law in this city with A. T. McClin- tock, and practiced here until his death, September 4, 1871. He married, in 1867, Louise Palmer, a daughter of the late Gideon W. Palmer, of Glenburn, Pa. (See page 194.) She still survives him. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a family of two children-Edith Smith and George Palmer Smith. George T. Smith was a brother of Andrew J. Smith, of the Luzerne bar.
JOSEPH H. CAMPBELL.
Joseph H. Campbell, who was admitted to-the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 12, 1867, was a son of Robert Campbell and his wife Catharine Mettler, a daughter of William Mettler. J. H. Campbell was a native of Rush township, Northumberland county, Pa., where he was born July 8, 1829. He was educated in the common schools of his neighborhood and at Lewisburg university. He also engaged in teaching in his young man- hood. He married, October 22, 1855, Mary Reed, a daughter of Jacob Reed and his wife, Maria Jones, a daughter of John Jones and Margaret Rockefeller, his wife. They were natives of New Jersey. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Camp- bell-Howard H. Campbell, a member of the Lackawanna county bar ; Mary Gertrude Campbell, and George B. Campbell. Mr. Campbell read law with Judge Jordan, of Northumberland county, and Judge Cooper, of Montour county, and was admitted to the Montour county bar, at Danville, Pa., September 20, 1858. In 1861 he was elected district attorney of Montour county for a term of three years, and in 1864 was reelected for a similar term. Shortly after the expiration of the latter term he removed to Scranton, where he practiced until his death, August 7, 1888.
ROWLAND METCALF KIDDER.
Rowland Metcalf Kidder was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 27, 1868. He was the son of Lyman Church Kidder, who was the son of Luther Kidder and Phebe Kidder,
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ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
his wife. (See page 1175.) L. C. Kidder was born in Waterford, Vermont, April 18, 1802. He died December 10, 1850, in Janes- ville, Wisconsin. He followed the occupation of a surveyor. He was a member of Company I, First Regiment Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, commanded by Captain E. L. Dana, in the Mexican war. He married, March 27, 1825, Mary Dana, born June 16, 1808, in Wilkes-Barre, who died March 17, 1861. She was the daughter of Anderson and Mary (Stevens) Dana. Hon. Luther Kidder, who was a member of the bar of Luzerne county, was a brother of Lyman Church Kidder. Rowland Metcalf Kidder, son of Lyman Church Kidder and Mary Kidder, his wife, was born July 3, 1842, in Wilkes-Barre. At the age of eighteen years he enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania Cavalry at the breaking out of the war; was detailed for service as an orderly at farmy headquarters, and occupied that position during the period of General Hooker's command of the army of the Poto- mac ; was near General Hooker when the latter was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville. His own horse was killed by a shot at about the same time the general was struck. He was present and behaved with marked coolness and courage in most of the battles in which the army of the Potomac was engaged, and also in the different raids, scouts and skirmishes in which his regiment participated. He was wounded at the battle of Gettys- burg, but soon recovered so as to rejoin his regiment, and at the battle of Spottsylvania, in June, 1864, was taken prisoner and confined at Andersonville until the close of the war. After re- turning home he studied law with his brother, Clarence Porter Kidder, in Wilkes-Barre. He removed to Colorado in July, 1868. He became deputy United States surveyor for the territory of New Mexico, and surveyed a large portion of the territory, located many mines, laid out several towns, and did considerable railroad work. He died (unmarried) at Silver City December 25, 1874.
ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
Isaac Smith Osterhout was commissioned, February 9, 1870, by Governor Geary, an associate judge of Luzerne county, Pa.,
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ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
to fill a vacancy caused by the death of George Palmer Steele. The Osterhouts, as their name indicates, came originally from Holland. They settled first in Connecticut, whence they re- moved to Dover, Dutchess county, N. Y. Jeremiah Osterhout, grandfather of Isaac S. Osterhout, removed from Dover in 1778 and settled at or near Tunkhannock, where he assisted in organ- izing the township of Putnam, one of the seventeen townships set apart to claimants under the Connecticut title. Isaac Oster- hout, son of Jeremiah Osterhout, and the father of Isaac S. Oster- hout, subsequently settled at a point now known as Lagrange, Wyoming. county, Pa., where he engaged in merchandise and lumbering, and for some years kept a house for the accommoda- tion of strangers and travelers. He married, at Old Forge, Susanna Smith, a daughter of William Hooker Smith. (See page 219.) The forge was originally built by Mr. Smith, but his son-in-law, Colonel Napthali Hurlbut, ran it at this time. I. S. Osterhout's mother was born in a house which formerly stood at the corner of Northampton and Franklin streets, on the lot owned and occupied by him at the time of his death, and now owned by G. W. Guthrie, M. D. The house Isaac S. Osterhout built and occupied at Lagrange is said to have been the first frame house erected between Pittston and Athens. This house is yet standing. Here I. S. Osterhout was born, October 26, 1806. In 1810 his father moved some three miles up the river, in 1818 to Black Walnut, and in 1822 to the Provost farm, six miles above Tunkhannock, where he died June 27, 1824. He had, prior to his death, a share in the Hunt's ferry shad fishery. About 1820 I. S. Osterhout took a load of shad, salted in barrels, to Salina, N. Y., to exchange them for salt. Mr. Kinney accom- panying him took a load of whetstones. The trip was made in sleighs and occupied two weeks. The shad found a ready sale, but the whetstones were disposed of with much difficulty and at a sacrifice. When I. S. Osterhout was twelve years of age he was sent to school at the Kingston academy. In 1823 he came to Wilkes-Barre and engaged as clerk with Denison, McCoy & Davenport, who had a store on River street, where the Wyoming valley house now stands. He remained with them about a year, when he returned to Tunkhannock and engaged with Beach Tut-
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ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
tle, who was then in business there. In 1824 he went to Elmira, N. Y., and remained there until 1830, clerking for Tuttle & Covell. He then came to Kingston and clerked for Gaylord & Reynolds, and remained with them nearly a year. In the latter part of the last named year he came to Wilkes-Barre and entered into partnership in the mercantile business with his cousin, Whit- ney Smith. This partnership continued until 1834, when it was dissolved, and the business thereafter was continued by Mr. Osterhout alone. As an evidence of enhancement of values in Wilkes-Barre, it may be remarked that the premises occupied, now owned by H. Lowenstein, embraced thirty feet on Main street and fifty feet on the public square, with suitable space in the rear, and the rent was but thirty dollars a year. In 1837 Mr. Osterhout purchased of Rev. George Lane, for the sum of three thousand dollars, the valuable property still owned by the estate, comprising a frontage of one hundred feet on the northwest side of the public square, on which there was then a house and two stores. Mr. Osterhout continued in the mercantile business until 1859. He had, after years of toil and industry skillfully directed, acquired an ample competency. He held the offices of secretary and treasurer of the Hollenback cemetery at the time of his death, and most of the time from its organization in 1854. He was also at the time of his death secretary and treasurer of the Wilkes- Barre water company, and had been from its inception. He was also at the time of his death, and had been for thirty years, the secretary and treasurer of the Wyoming Athenaeum. On Janu- ary 29, 1840, Mr. Osterhout married Elizabeth C. Lee, only daughter of Hon. Thomas Lee, of Port Elizabeth, Cumberland county, N. J., who was a prominent and highly respected citizen of that place, and represented the district in the congress of the United States. I. S. Osterhout died in Wilkes-Barre April 12, 1882, and his wife April 28, 1887. They left no children. His munificent bequest to the city for the founding and support of a free library, and his large donations for christian and charitable objects, entitle him to be ranked and remembered as its leading and most liberal benefactor. The accumulations of a long life of industry and economy were devoted by him to the highest welfare-the moral and intellectual culture of the citizens of the
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