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 25
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1316
ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
town in which most of that life was passed and in which those accumulations were made. His estate, which was bequeathed to the founding of the library, amounted to about four hundred thousand dollars. We herewith give the provisions of the will for the maintenance and management of said library :
"And I hereby give, bequeath, and devise all the rest and resi- due of my estate, real, personal, and mixed, to Hubbard B. Payne, of Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, Lewis C. Paine, Ed- ward P. Darling, Edmund L. Dana (since deceased, vacancy filled by the election of Charles M. Conyngham), Harrison Wright (since deceased, vacancy filled by the election of Andrew F. Derr), Andrew H. McClintock, and Sheldon Reynolds, all of the city of Wilkes-Barre, in said county, and the survivors or survivor of them, and their heirs and the heirs of the survivor of them, IN TRUST, nevertheless, to be held, appropriated, and used to and for the use and purpose of founding, establishing, and perpetuating in the said city of Wilkes-Barre a free library-the said residuary estate to be held and managed by my executors, hereinafter named, for five years from the time of my death, to accumulate, and the income of my said residuary estate for said five years to be added to said residuary estate, and the whole to be then used for and devoted to the establishing and maintaining in said city a free library, as aforesaid, to be called "THE OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY," and the whole residuary estate aforesaid, with the accumulations thereof, to be then conveyed and passed over by the said trustees, or their survivors and successors, to an incorpora- tion, to be procured by the said trustees, or their survivors and successors, and named "THE OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY," of which the said seven trustees, or, in case of the death of any of them, the survivors, and such person or persons as shall be named by the survivors in the place of any of said trustees that may be deceased at the time of such incorporation being obtained, and the rector of St. Stephen's church, of Wilkes-Barre, and the pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of Wilkes-Barre, and their respective successors, shall be the directors, making a board of nine directors, the said rector and pastor and their respective successors to be ex officio members of said board, and in case of death, resignation, or removal beyond the county of Luzerne of any of the first mentioned seven directors, the remaining direc- tors of said board shall fill all such vacancies as may from time to time occur, the said board to elect one of their number presi- dent, and one of their number secretary and treasurer for such term as may be fixed by the by-laws adopted by said board, and such other officers and employees as the said board shall find
1317
ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
necessary and provide for under the by-laws that may from time to time be adopted. And in case there is any difficulty or delay in procuring, within five years from the time of my death, an act of incorporation such as I have recommended to be obtained, I hereby direct, authorize, and empower my said seven trustees, or the survivors of them, and such person or persons as such sur- vivors may appoint to fill any vacancies from death, resignation, or removal from the county of Luzerne (which appointments I hereby authorize and empower a majority of my said trustees to make), to establish such free library, to be called "THE OSTER- HOUT FREE LIBRARY," on such foundation and under such rules and regulations for the government thereof as they may adopt, to use and appropriate such portion of my said residuary estate and the accumulations thereof as they may consider, judicious and proper in the erection and furnishing of a proper and suit- able building for the said library, and the future requirements thereof, upon any lot owned by me in said city of Wilkes-Barre which they may select, or for the purchase of a suitable lot for such building in such location as they may consider best adapted for such building, at their discretion, and to use and appropriate such other portion of my said residuary estate and the accumu- lations thereof as they may decide upon to the purchase and pro- curement of books, maps, charts, and such other articles and things suitable for such library as they may deem proper and ap- propriate for a library, and to reserve, invest, and manage such other and remaining portion of my said residuary estate and the accumulations thereof to constitute a permanent fund, the income of which to be used and applied to the purpose of extending and increasing such library and defraying the necessary expenses of employing a librarian, and such other officers as may be found necessary, and of lighting, heating, and keeping open said library. And I hereby fully authorize and empower my said trustees and their successors to take such action in regard to the establishing and maintaining such library as they may judge fit and best, hav- ing in view the growth, preservation, permanency, and general usefulness of such library.
"And in case an act of incorporation is obtained for the afore- said free library, I recommend an insertion of a provision that the directors named therein, as herein designated, shall from time to time fill all vacancies that may arise in their board by death, resignation, or removal from the county of Luzerne, by an elec- tion by the remainder of said board of suitable person or per- sons to fill all such vacancies as may from time to tiine occur in said board, and that in case of failure to fill any vacancies for three months, the president judge of the court of common pleas
1318
ISAAC SMITH OSTERHOUT.
for Luzerne county shall appoint a suitable person or persons to fill such vacancies, until such proper election be held to fill such vacancies ; my will and desire being that this trust shall not fail, and that the proper courts of said county shall have full power and authority to direct in regard to the proper application of this trust, so that my residuary estate and the accumulations thereof shall be used for and applied to the purpose to which it is hereby devoted, and my will is and I hereby direct that my said trustees, or their successors, or in case an incorporation is obtained, the directors thereof, may and shall, as soon after the expiration of five years from my death as they conveniently can, erect a suit- able building for such free library in such location within the city of Wilkes-Barre as a majority may select, and of such size, style, and arrangement as a majority may decide upon, and on such lot as such majority select from lots owned by me, or may purchase and have conveyed to the corporation, if an incorpora- tion shall have been obtained, or if not, to the proper then exist- ing trustees, and when such suitable building is completed may and shall purchase and procure and place therein proper and suitable books and reading matter, for the establishment of a useful and desirable free library, under rules and regulations to be adopted for the government thereof, reserving, however, such . portion of my residuary estate hereby devised, so that the income thereof shall be amply sufficient to secure the services of a per- manent and suitable librarian, janitor, and such other officers as may be found necessary to keep such free library open and prop- erly arranged, seated, warmed, and lighted for the free use of all persons seeking access thereto, under the rules and regulations adopted for the government thereof, and to increase the said library by the purchase and addition from time to time of such suitable books and reading matter as will render said free library most useful and improving to those that may resort thereto and avail themselves of the benefits thereof.
"And my will is and I further direct that in the erection and arrangement of the building hereby authorized, the same shall be so constructed that in addition to the space required for the accommodation of said free library and the increase thereof as hereinbefore provided for, a portion of said building shall be de- voted to the use and accommodation of the Wyoming Historical and Geological society, without charge for rent, heat, or light of the rooms that may be devoted to and used for the purposes of said society ; my said trustees, and their successors, or the direc- tors of said free library, to designate the portion of said building to be used by said society, and to have the general control and supervision of said building.
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JABEZ ALSOVER.
"And I further authorize my aforesaid trustees and the sur- vivors of them, and the successors of any vacancies, or the di- rectors of the corporation, if such be obtained, at their discretion, to organize and establish a course of free lectures on some scien- tific or literary subject, or some other useful and improving subject calculated to interest and improve those who may attend thereon, not, however, to expend upon such course of lectures in any one year a sum exceeding two thousand dollars, and only when the income reserved for the increase of the library will bear the ex- penditure for such course without detriment to or interfering with the proper use and increase of the library, which I declare to be the main purpose to which I desire to devote my said resid- uary estate.
"And I further authorize my aforesaid trustees, and the sur- vivors of them, and the successors of any vacancies, or the di- rectors as aforesaid, to accept any gift, bequest, or devise of books, money, or property for the use of said free library, and to furnish shelves to be occupied by the books given or purchased with the proceeds of any such gift, bequest, or devise, and when the books donated or purchased are sufficient to fill an alcove or considerable space, to designate and mark such alcove or space with the name of the donor. In case of gifts of books, however, those in legal charge of said library shall determine whether the books offered as a gift are of such character as may be poper . and suitable, and if in their judgment such books, or any of them, are not of such character, they shall reject the same ; and all moneys and property bequeathed or devised to said library shall be expended by and be entirely under the control of those legal- ly in charge of said library, to be by them devoted to the best interests thereof."
JABEZ ALSOVER.
Jabez Alsover, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., May 3, 1870, was a native of Easton, Pa., where he was born September 26, 1843. He studied law in Mauch Chunk, Pa., with Daniel Kalbfus, and soon after his admission to the Carbon county bar removed to Hazleton, in this county, where he resided up to the time of his death. During the late civil war he served in the three months' service under Captain Horn, and afterwards
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1320
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PFOUTS.
-1 enlisted for three years, and was discharged from the Frederick City (Maryland) hospital after a service of two years. At the time of his death, December 2, 1878, he was one of the attorneys of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and also of several coal companies, and in addition had a large private practice. He married, in Mauch Chunk, in 1865, Hannah Dodson.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PFOUTS.
Benjamin Franklin Pfouts was commissioned an associate judge of Luzerne county, Pa., November 9, 1870. He is a descendant of John Pfoutz, who was the first settler, in 1755, in what is now Pfoutz's valley, Perry county, Pa. He was the first considerable land owner, hence had the honor of giving his name to the valley. Leonard Pfouts, son of John Pfoutz, was born at Berry's Falls, Perry county, Pa., January 18, 1774. The wife of Leonard Pfouts was Nancy Covenhoven (pronounced Cronover), a daugh- ter of Robert Covenhoven. He was born, of Dutch parents, in Monmouth county, N. J., December 7, 1755. He was much em- ployed during his youth as a hunter and axeman to the surveyors of land in the valleys tributary to the north and west branches of the Susquehanna. The familiarity thus acquired with all the paths of that vast wilderness rendered his services eminently useful as a scout and guide to the military parties of the revo- lution, which commenced about the time of his arrival at man- hood. It is unnecessary to say that the graduate of such a school was fearless and intrepid, that he was skilled in the wiles of In- dian warfare, and that he possessed an iron constitution. With these qualifications, at the call of his country in 1776 he joined the campaigns under General Washington. He was at the bat- tles of Trenton and Princeton. His younger brother had also enlisted, but his father took his place, and the general, with his characteristic kindness, permitted the boy to return and protect his mother. In the spring of 1777 Robert returned to his home on the West Branch, where his services were more needed by the
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1321
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PFOUTS.
defenceless frontier than on the sea coast. Mr. Covenhoven was one of those men who were always put forward when danger and hard work were to be encountered, but forgotten when honors and emoluments were to be distributed. Nevertheless, he cheerfully sought the post of danger, and never shrank from duty, although it might be in an humble station. Few men passed through more hairbreadth escapes, few encountered more personal perils in deadly encounters with savages than Mr. Covenhoven. He was very useful to General Sullivan as a spy and a guide up the North Branch in 1779 to the Indian country. It is said that he was in the unfortunate company commanded by Lieutenant Boyd, and was one among the few that escaped the dreadful mas- sacre. When the din of battle ceased and peace was restored to the land, Covenhoven came and settled permanently on the West Branch. He resided there until declining age admonished him to relinquish the pursuits of the agriculturist and seek a more quiet and sedate life. For a part of the time he resided with Colonel George Crane, near Jersey Shore, Pa., and the other part in the family of Leonard Pfouts, another son-in-law, near North- umberland, Pa, where he died October 29, 1849. He lies buried. in the graveyard at Northumberland.
B. F. Pfouts, son of Leonard and Nancy Pfouts, was born at Jersey Shore, Pa., April 12, 1809. He was educated at Rev. John Hayes Grier's private school in his native place. Prior to his removal to this county he was deputy sheriff in Northumber- land county. During the years 1857, 1858 and 1859 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county. Judge Pfouts died in Hanover January 6, 1874. He married, February 5, 1841, Mary Frances Sively. She is the daughter of George Sively, a native of Easton, Pa., where he was born April 30, 1789. He died in Hanover township, in this county, February 5, 1854. He was the son of George Sively, M. D., who came to this country from Germany when a young man. His wife was Jane Bald- win, whom he married in Philadelphia. He was a surgeon in the French army. He died near Easton December 12, 1812. The mother of Mrs. Pfouts was Frances Stewart, a daughter of Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, jr. He was born in Lancaster county, Pa. ; married Dorcas Hopkins; came to Hanover with
WYOMING
WILKES-BARRE
Soc.
HIST. CEOL
1322
WESLEY S. WILMARTH.
his cousin, Captain Lazarus Stewart, about 1770; was lieutenant of the Hanover company ; was in the battle and massacre of Wyoming, and was killed there July 3, 1778. He was the son of Alexander Stewart, who was the son of Lazarus Stewart, the emigrant. Judge Pfouts left to survive him one son-George Sively Pfouts, who was born in Hanover March 5, 1842. His first wife was Emma Quick, a daughter of Thomas Quick. She died February 23, 1873. He has since married Fanny A. Eck- rote, a daughter of Peter A. Eckrote.
DENNIS ALEXANDER McQUILLAN.
Dennis Alexander McQuillan, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., June 21, 1871, was a native of Wilkes- Barre, where he was born September 25, 1846. His father, Den- nis McQuillan, for some years a school director of this city, was born in Cork, Ireland. His mother, Elizabeth McQuillan (nee McDonald) was born in county Louth, Ireland. D. A. McQuil- lan was educated in the public schools of this city, Dana's acad- emy, and Yale college, graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1869. He read law with Stanley Woodward, and practiced in this city until 1872, when he removed to Portland, Conn., where he practiced his profession until his death, Septem- ber 4, 1886. He married, August 27, 1879, Kate Mckinley, a daughter of Archibald Mckinley, a native of county Antrim, Ireland. Her mother, Eliza McKinley (nee Anderson) was born in the same place. Mr. and Mrs. McQuillan have had three · children, Charles McQuillan being the only one who survives.
WESLEY S. WILMARTH.
Wesley S. Wilmarth, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., October 16, 1871, was a native of Harford, Susque- hanna county, Pa., where he was born October 7, 1834. He
1323
JAMES BRYSON.
worked as a boy and man on his father's farm, and subsequently entered the law office of W. H. Jessup, at Montrose, with a view of fitting himslf for the legal profession. When the late civil war broke out he was about one of the first to enter the service. At the close of the war he returned to Montrose, and subse- quently came to Scranton in 1870, when he entered the law office of Hand & Post, and there completed his studies. He died in Scranton May 8, 1875, leaving a widow to survive him.
WILLIAM VANDERBELT MYERS.
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William Vanderbelt Myers, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., February 13, 1872, was a son of the late Thomas Myers (see page 650) and Elizabeth C. Myers (nee Van- derbelt), his wife. He was born in Kingston May 31, 1850. He was educated at Saunders Institute, Philadelphia, and read law in this city with T. H. B. Lewis. He died September 24, 1874. He was an unmarried man.
JAMES BRYSON.
James Bryson, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., March 21, 1872, was a native of Minersville, Pa. He read law in Columbia county, and was admitted to the bar there in December, 1869. He was district attorney of Columbia county while residing there. He was a son of John and Catharine (Gorrell) Bryson, natives of Ireland, who, coming to this coun- try, were married in Philadelphia, from whence they removed to Minersville. The mother died at Harrison, Schuylkill county, Pa., but the father is still living and resides in Philadelphia. Mr. Bryson practiced law in Hazleton for a number of years, and in 1879 was the candidate for district attorney of Luzerne county
1324
EUGENE W. SIMRELL.
on the labor ticket, but was defeated by Alfred Darte, the candi- date of the republican party. He died at Philipsburg, Pa., in 1887. Hon. William Bryson, of Centralia, Pa., was his brother.
IVAN THOMAS RUTH.
Ivan Thomas Ruth was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., October 28, 1872. He was a native of Forestville, Bucks county, Pa., where he was born June 18, 1847. He was the son of Jesse Ruth, a native of Montgomery county, Pa., where he was born in 1810. I. T. Ruth was educated in his native county and at Millersville, Pa., normal school, from which he graduated in 1866. He read law with George Lear, at Doylestown, Pa., where he was first admitted to practice. While following his profession in this county he resided at Scranton. He subse- quently removed to Delmar, Iowa, where he died November 19, - 1878. He was an unmarried man.
EUGENE W. SIMRELL.
Eugene W. Simrell was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., June 4, 1874. His great-grandfather, William Simrell, emi- grated with his family from Ireland and settled in Rhode Island. His grandfather, Nathaniel Simrell, son of William . Simrell, was born in Rhode Island ; married Lydia Wall ; moved from Rhode Island and settled in Scott township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, about the year 1800. Warren W. Simrell, son of Na - thaniel Simrell and father of E. W. Simrell, was born in Scott township, and married Frances C. Decker, daughter of Stephen and Louisa (Giddings) Decker. E. W. Simrell was born in Scott township October 3, 1851. He received his education in the common schools of Scott township, Gardner's commercial school,
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HARRISON WRIGHT.
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Scranton, Wyoming seminary, and at the Bloomsburg and Mans- field normal schools. In 1873 he entered the Albany, N. Y., law school, from which institution he graduated in 1874 with the degree of LL. B. He opened a law office in Scranton the same year. In 1875 he was appointed by the United States Circuit Court a commissioner for the western district of Pennsylvania, which position he held up to ISSO. In 1879 he was elected dis- trict attorney of Lackawanna county. He was a married man.
HARRISON WRIGHT.
[The following biographical sketch of Harrison Wright was read before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society May 8, 1885, by George B. Kulp, Esq., Historiographer. We insert it entire. ]
"Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, We mingle together in sunshine and rain; And the smiles and the tears, the songs and the dirge, Still follow each other like surge upon surge."
At the last regular meeting of this organization Harrison Wright sat with us, to all outward appearances in the full bloom of perfect health. His unselfishly ambitious love for the pursuits coming within the scope of this organization, making it impossi- ble for us, during years past, to think of the organization without thinking of him as its most ardent friend and principal sustainer, was apparent in almost everything done at that meeting and noted in the minutes of its proceedings which have just been read to us. He was then as hopeful and enthusiastic as he was active and energetic. In every project the society looked to him, often for leadership, always for generous and important assistance. His natural talent for historical research, perfected by most careful cultivation, was in demand to elucidate the numerous subjects, in the examination and exposition of which this society zealously aims to be a careful student and intelligent teacher. We were with him then, and depending upon him then, as we had been with him and dependent upon him a hundred times before, and as we fondly hoped and expected to be with him and to depend upon him hundreds of times again. Yet in less that a fortnight he
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1326
HARRISON WRIGHT.
had been summoned to that other world, of which the highest knowledge attainable in this leaves us in darkness penetrable only by the light of the lamp of resignation and faitli. It is generally understood that the illness which resulted in his death was caused by the insidious draughts of raw, damp air that found their way into the museum of this society at a time when he was engaged in gathering some details for a report upon its status, which report was his last official communication to us. If anything could, this fact would add to the gratefulness in which we hold his memory as one whose devotion to our society's interests was without a selfish thought, whose services rendered in its behalf were beyond computation in value and who was truly one of the chief pillars of its strength.
Harrison Wright was born in this city July 15, 1850, and was, therefore, at the time of his death, February 20, 1885, not quite thirty-five years of age. That he was enabled in so short a life- time to accomplish so much, seems at first glance as surprising as it is that a man so full of usefulness and promise should have been called away, when there are so many others the world could much better have spared. That he inherited at least a part of his peculiar enthusiasm and fitness for the work in which he engaged is a conclusion which must force itself upon even those who have least faith in such inheritance, after they shall have informed themselves somewhat of the ancestry from which he sprung. That ancestry identifies the blood which flowed in his veins with that of the moving spirits in the earliest history of our city,. county and state ; in the primary and progressive developments of the vast mineral resources of this particular section of our great commonwealth; in the grandest unfolding of the sciences and arts in this country, and in various important scientific and patriotic undertakings in other countries. There is nothing par- ticularly original in the manner of the presentation of the inter- esting facts which, in the performance of my duty as the histori- ographer of this society, I here follow-the work of compiling them having been well advanced by Harrison Wright himself in his lifetime.
Harrison Wright was the descendant in the sixth generation of John Wright, one of the first settlers of Burlington county,
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HARRISON WRIGHT.
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New Jersey, and who was the first settler at Wrightstown, in that county, being in fact the founder of the village or little town of that name. He came from England in 1681 with William Penn's colony of Quaker immigrants. He held a commission of justice of the peace and captain of the militia under the royal seal of Charles II. A diary kept by this pioneer is still in the possession of the family. Among other things therein recorded it appears that he "subscribed and paid 63 towards building the brick meeting-house." This building is still standing, after a lapse of two hundred years, and was probably the first meeting- house erected in that state. It appears also that he "made the first barrel of cider in the state of New Jersey." The circum- stances attending the jubilee over this "first barrel of cider" I must insert. In was an event in the history of the new country. "He invited all his neighbors to partake; they very willingly attended. Duke Fort was appointed tapster, and a merrier assemblage never took place in the neighborhood of Penny Hill, for so Wrightstown was then called." Among the curiosities contained in this old diary I add the following: "The soil is very productive and the earth yields very bountifully, but then, the farmer has poor encouragement, considering that those terrible pests, the wild geese and wild turkeys, destroy almost entirely one's crops." The wife of John Wright was Abigail Crispin, daughter of Silas Crispin, the elder. After the grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn, Silas Crispin was appointed surveyor general, and sailed with William Crispin, his father, John Beryar and Christopher Allen, who were appointed commissioners to go to Pennsylvania with power to purchase lands of the Indians and to select a site for and lay out a great city ; but, dying on the voyage, Captain Thomas Holmes was appointed his successor, April 18, 1682. He was a native of Waterford, Ireland, and is said to have served in the fleet under Admiral Penn in the West Indies when a young man. He sailed from the Downs, April 23, accompanied by two sons and two daughters, Silas Crispin, the son of his predecessor in office, and John, the eldest son of James Claypole. Thomas Holmes made his home in Philadelphia, and owned land in Bristol township, Bucks county, Pa., but it is not known that he ever lived there. His daughter Hester married Silas Crispin, who
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