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 7
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GEORGE CATLIN.
reaching for some branch or enterprise of the art on which to devote a whole lifetime of enthusiasm, when a delegation of some ten or fifteen noble and dignified looking Indians from the wilds of the far west suddenly arrived in the city, arrayed and equipped in all their classic beauty, with shield and helmet, with tunic and manteau, tinted and tasseled off exactly for the painter's pallette." This sight turned his thoughts toward his Indian gallery. Re- flection upon the possibilities of Indian art confirmed his impres- sions, and he determined to execute his idea of "Catlin's North American Indian Gallery." Of this, in 1861, he writes : "In the midst of success (as a painter) I again resolved to use my art and so much of the labors of my future life as might be required in rescuing from oblivion the looks and customs of the vanishing races of native men in America, to which I plainly saw they were hastening before the approach and certain progress of civiliza- tion." It was a high and noble ambition, worthily conceived and most faithfully executed. Mr. Catlin became an enthusiast in his work, and necessarily so, for no one but an enthusiast could have executed so difficult a task and so thoroughly. He hoped and believed that his work would survive him, and throughout his writings can be found the frequently occurring statement that he was painting for the future. From 1829 to 1871, a period of forty-two years, he entirely followed his life work. In all lands and in all climes, in North and South America and in Europe, his name was a familiar one from 1830 to 1871. In that time he saw the dreams of his early manhood realized, and knew that ยท the world felt the influence of his work. Steadiness of character and firmness of opinion were his aids ; with these and indomita- ble courage he succeeded. His friends were many and faithful ; his enemies few, and they from motives of self-interest. He was never even comfortably off in money matters, relying for his live- lihood upon his brush or his pen. He lived poor and died the same. He received no pecuniary aid, governmental or indi- vidual, in the prosecution of his work. He was a gentleman by instinct and culture, and in all stations of life, whether on the plains with the Indians, or in a palace with a king, he was at home. He received many earthly distinctions and honors in his lifetime, but none above his merit. The larger portion of his
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ORISTUS COLLINS.
Indian Gallery is in the United States National Museum (Smith- sonian Institution) at Washington, D. C. He was the author of several works on Indian customs and manners and on general subjects. He married, May 10, 1828, Clara B. Gregory, of Albany, N. Y. Mr. Catlin died at Jersey City, N. J., December 23, 1872. Mrs. Catlin died in Paris July 28, 1845. Three chil- dren survived the death of Mr. Catlin-Elizabeth Wing . Catlin, Clara Gregory Catlin, of New York, and Mrs. Louise Victoria Kinney, of Washington, D. C.
ORISTUS COLLINS.
Oristus Collins, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne coun- ty, Pa., April 8, 1819, was born in Marlboro, Connecticut, Sep- tember 22, 1792. His lineage on the father's side is distinctly traceable to one John Collins, of Boston, Massachusetts, the date of whose crossing the Atlantic and settlement in this country has never been satisfactorily determined. The stock is supposed to be English, but some things dispose to a doubt. The usual stature, complexion, vigor, and length of life, in one and all, indi- cate Irish blood. This doubt hardly had its origin in an amusing anecdote, familiar to the judge's friends : An Irishman was tried before him at Lancaster, Pa., and when he received his sentence, a lighter penalty was imposed than the convicted man expected. So great was his surprise, he complimented the judge by the remark, that "he knew the O' Collinses in Ireland, and they were among the most respectable." The judge seldom, if ever, signed his name in full-Oristus. With no little humor, he was pleased to descant upon the names of his more immediate or remote rel- atives : his brothers, Alonzo, Decius, Lucius, Lorenzo, Abner, Theron, Aretas, or running further back-Cyprian, Ambrose, Triphena, Homer, Cicero, Plato, and Virgil, Ruhamah, Hephsi- bah, Sibyl, Asenath, even Tyrannus.
The first John, of Boston, is supposed to have been a merchant, and this form of business appears to have marked the next two
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generations. But in the third following appeared a clergyman, one Timothy, graduated from Yale College, class 1718, a native of Guilford, Connecticut, born 1699. He was the first pastor of the Litchfield Congregational church, served 31 years, and then retiring, for twenty years practiced medicine within the bounds of his former charge, serving also acceptably as justice of the peace in the same town. At the attack upon Crown Point, 1755, Timothy was appointed surgeon of a Connecticut regiment. His wife, Ann Leete, daughter of William Leete, was at this time noted for her knowledge of one branch of surgery, midwifery ; and it is recorded that in an extreme case she was drawn upon a hand-sled four and one-half miles to relieve suffering. It is per- haps worthy of remark that the home of the Leetes was distin- guished as a place of retreat for Whalley and Goffe, the regicides of Charles. So, also, that this William Leete, afterwards Gov- ernor Leete, was bred to the law in England, and for a consider- able time served as clerk in the Bishop's Court, in Cambridge. Here, observing the oppression and cruelties practiced on the. Puritans, he was led to examine the subject, and giving up his office he became a Puritan. Thus early did the religious element appear in this family, in connection with independent thinking.
The law of heredity might lead us to expect, what we find in the next generation, a physician in the son Charles, of whom, however, we have little more than date of birth, marriage, etc., -his marriage into the distinguished family of Huntington ; the birth of ten children-one of whom became the mother of the American poet, John Pierrepont, and Lewis, the eldest son, father of Oristus. Lewis was born October 29, 1753. A physi- cian of ability and repute, he married, for a second wife, into the family of Huntington, and with a family of seven children set out from New England for Pennsylvania, a colony of Connecti- cut. A desire to withdraw his sons from the temptations of a seafaring life disposed him to seek a home far from the Atlantic coast, and in 1804 he settled permanently at Cherry Ridge, Wayne county, Pennsylvania. There, amid no little responsibil- ity on the farm, turning a hand to various employments, fruit growing, sugar making, and bee culture, the boy Oristus ripened into manhood, except in so far as he was afforded occasional edu-
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cational opportunities at 'Owego, New York, or at Litchfield, Connecticut. It is narrated that, at a visit from a clergyman, the father, Dr. Collins, was seen in the field making hay, having five sons following him with scythes, and five raking and binding.
Oristus' mother, Louisa Huntington, a daughter of Hon. Oli- ver Huntington, of Lebanon, Connecticut, brings into view a line noted in the history of this country, and easily traceable to the hunting grounds of Saxon, Dane, and Norman-that tract of England lying between Cambridge on the east and Northampton and Bedfordshire, on the west, filled with all kinds of English game. This hunting ground gave a name to families of greatest eminence and most distinguished culture, on both eastern and western continents. Thence they have radiated, until they are reckoned by thousands bearing, through marriage, names Bing- ham, Backus, Carew, Chauncey, Clark, Crane, Fitch, Forbes, Goodrich, Hyde, Lathrop, Lincoln, Leffingwell, Tracey, Wales, Walworth, Wheelock, Wright. Says one biographer: "In five of our states we have furnished members for political conven- tions, in which state constitutions were made, or ratified, or amended. In Connecticut we were represented by three of the name, in the convention of 1788, for ratifying the constitution of the United States. In the convention of 1818, we had another. New York had two at work upon hers. Ohio, her second Gov- ernor upon hers. New Hampshire, upon hers. As representa- tives or senators, and they are about equally divided, we have furnished not less than thirty for state legislatures, and a solid half dozen for our national congress. Of judges of county courts, superior judges, and federal and chief justices, we can count at least fifteen. Nearly one hundred on our list have taken colle- giate honors, a number which, for its ratio to the entire list, is probably unequaled by any other New England family. Our ministers have exceeded one-third of our college list, and our lawyers and doctors have nearly equaled one third each."
"In days when to cling to our country's cause was treason, patriotism was our family trait. No threats of governmental ven- geance and no seductions of governmental favor could, for a moment, weaken or repress. It was no mean compliment that General Washington, all through the war, made Jedediah a coun-
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selor and confidant. As regards the religious element of the family, note such names in the church as Lyman, Strong, Griffin, Perkins, Smith, and Baldwin, or of noble women, Winslow, Hutchins, and Perry, whose names have a holy savor on heathen soil." Whether the subject of this sketch had any connection with the English poet, Collins, can not be determined. But there is no question as regards his relation to Lydia M. Sigourney and John Pierrepont. To justify so full a reference to the maternal side, it may be well to quote. "Our sons and daughters, their character and influence, made what it is more by maternal influ- ence-these are the natural testimonials of the character and worth of our mothers." Of the boyhood of Oristus little is known, as indicating his promise, unless it be the fact that as a student at school it became quite habitual for him to pass from school to school, having in each exhausted the stock of learning possessed by the teacher to whom he was sent. Such unusual rapidity of acquisition is confirmed by the appearance of his Latin grammar, which shows no signs of being thumbed, but is as clean as on the day of its purchase. In six weeks from commencing Latin, he had read Virgil. It was with an eye twinkling with conscious ability or caustic criticism, he was wont to remark to the youths in his family that "he was graduated at the foot of sign posts and grave stones." His hand writing had much of the elegance of engraving, and even in his old age remained distinct and legi- ble. His style of composition was concise and clear; careful, but easy and graceful ; free from all attempts at adornment ; severe in its logic, showing self discipline and a due sense of responsibility to his own keen criticism. Indeed, he was wont to remark that he did not see that there was any reason, but lazi- ness or incompetency, which should render criticism by another necessary to the improvement of one's style. He was early con- versant with the wide field of English literature; had read all the British poets and essayists. With metaphysics, as such, he had little patience, but in early youth he had studied "Watts on the Mind," and later had mastered "Locke on the Human Under- standing." He was a careful reader of the best works by the British bar, and Grattan, Curran, Emmett, and Burke were famil- iar studies. All that he read seemed to dispose him the more to
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.ORISTUS COLLINS.
look to the power of his own mind, for whatever success he might hope to gain. He was no servile imitator of any man, never could have thought of calling any man master-nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri.
In 1817, after an unsatisfactory effort to please his father by the study of medicine, having little relish for that profession, he en- tered the office of Hon. Garrick Mallery, at Wilkes-Barre, as a stu- dent of law. In this village was a family by the name of Jewett, recently come from New London, Connecticut, seeking a better fortune and a suitable home. With five daughters and three sons, the widow of David H. Jewett, M. D., afforded the subject of this sketch a home, and eventually he found in it a wife, winning the affections of the youngest daughter, Nancy, whom he married July 17, 1823. Dr. David H. Jewett was a well known sur- geon and warm personal friend of General Washington. He was a son of Rev. David Jewett, D. D., a missionary to the Mohican Indians, afterwards a chaplain in the French and In- dian war, and later in the American revolution. Rev. Dr. Jewett read the burial service over Uncas, . "the last of the Mohicans." David Jewett, a brother of Nancy, was commo- dore of the Brazilian navy, under Dom Pedro I. (See page 782.)
In all his domestic life Judge Collins was a devoted stu- dent of the bible. All the theological systems, of which he was a careful reader, he brought to the bar of the revealed word of God. Members of his family coming home at their vacation, fresh from the discussions of professors of theology, were glad to listen to his words of wisdom, and he was never found unwilling to discuss any of the questions which had engaged councils and drawn out able and world-renowned debate. He was wont to remark that every faithful student of the English bible would show the effects of its pure Saxon in fashioning his style, and that a careful reader of it could not seriously err in idiom, or be faulty in grammar. It was a notable fact in his religious life that in his old age he repeated his excursions through the penitential Psalms again and again, until at that one point he wore out Bible after bible. Decent disposal of the Holy Book could be found only in the fires of the furnace. He never failed to commend the close examination of the book to younger members of the
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ORISTUS COLLINS.
bar, and a simple but earnest and unyielding advocacy of its claims marked his life. Illustration in point is afforded by Hon. Stanley Woodward, at the meeting of the bar on the morning of Judge Collins' burial. He referred to the pleasant surprise which the aged counselor gave the bar by once remarking that "he had just visited the law library, and had painfully observed the ab- sence of a volume which was the fountain of legal principles," whereupon, he drew from its concealment a copy of the bible, and begged the court's acceptance of it from him as a gift to the library which they were forming. To no small degree he inher- ited a temperament marked by coolness and fearlessness ; but added to this was a firmness, which came from the depth of his convictions-convictions of the claims of truth and righteousness -his deep and hearty assurance that there was at the helm of the universe, and, how much more, of the church, a power whose supervision was rendered unquestioned and immutable by prom- ises which declared Him a God of truth and holiness, ever watch- ful over the weakest disposed to serve him. It was this that emboldened him to break up a horse-race on Main street, Wilkes- Barre, and, amid the gathered multitude, to seize the horse and lead hini away as forfeited by law. It was this that gave him confidence on the grounds of an adverse political gathering in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, during his judgeship, to which he was appointed by Governor Ritner, August 8, 1836. He was taking notes upon a speech by Hon. James Buchanan, when roughs threatened him and sought to drive him from the grounds. Coolly putting his hand beneath his coat, where might have been fire- arms -- which he never carried-he kept the bullies at respect- ful distance, while he deliberately withdrew to a place of safety. He was not easily alarmed, as was once proven in the court room at Wilkes-Barre, when an inconsiderate lawyer threatened to "pitch him over the bar." Rising from his seat, he unflinchingly approached the braggadocio and assured him that the best mo- ment for the attempt was the one at hand. History fails to record any conflict. His unassuming manner may have been mistaken for a want of spirit. At his first entering the office of Hon. Garrick Mallery as a student of law some young lawyers induced a young woman to disguise herself, and, entering the
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office, to threaten a personal assault. Seeing their numbers, and determined to make less of the first assailant, he would have made the experiment a pitiful joke, had not the party begged for the release of their foolish victim, and in disgrace beaten a retreat.
In church, no less than in state, his deep sense of the right and the true kept him loyal and prompt in action. He had a tender regard for the dignity of the pulpit; was its ever ready defender, saying to his pastor, "They may remove you, but can- not disturb me," as he often assumed the responsibility of deli- cate cases. He was a true churchman. In his youth a Congre- gationalist, as all his fathers were, he turned his attention to questions of church government, and accepted the claims of Presbyterianism as having a broader basis than those of Congre- gationalism. He thereupon urged a change in the organization of the church, which is now the "First Presbyterian" of Wilkes- Barre, effected his purpose, and, becoming one of its first bench of elders, served in that capacity for more than fifty years. As was remarked by Hon. Henry W. Palmer, at the meeting of the bar, on the day of the judge's burial, "Had he lived in the troub- lous days of the revolution, he would have stood with Crom- well, Hampden, and Sir Henry Vane, in defence of the people's rights, against kingly prerogative or priestly assumption."
He was the friend of the poor, and not once or twice was their testimony rendered to his praise. Here is an instance, re- ported in later years by the man himself: "I bought a horse of the judge and gave him my note. The horse not long after died. I reported the loss and my inability to pay." 'It matters not,' re- plied the judge, 'When the horse died, the note died' It hardly need be said that he was the friend of the oppressed African, and an ardent supporter of the administration, during the late war Long before that, he was, on every principle of humanity, the. black man's friend ; and, while more prudent than abolitionists generally, he was no less determined in his opposition to slavery. As a Presbyterian, he for some time accepted the philosophy that slavery was not wrong per se. He was a colonizationist of the Henry Clay school, and had the south not proved so aggressive, he would have approved measures looking to the indulgence of slavery, till colonization might have wiped it out.
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JOHN NESBIT CONYNGHAM.
He was an earnest advocate of temperance, and a plea made by him was the first published temperance document in this portion of the state. It is worthy of mention, but sad to relate, that while he, according to the customs of the times, was in the habit of taking his morning " dram," as was supposed beneficial to the health, he was induced to yield this custom and brought to main- tain the cause of temperance by one who afterwards sank into a drunkard's grave. Upon the transition of the judgeship in Penn- sylvania from the life tenure to .periodic election, he returned from Lancaster to Wilkes-Barre, and resumed the practice of the law. In this he continued till 1874, when, owing to diminished acuteness of hearing, being then eighty-two years of age, he re- tired from the courts. In the same year when his only son and heir, Rev. Charles Jewett Collins, born in this city, June 25, 1825, withdrew from the superintendence of the public schools of the city of Wilkes-Barre to take charge of the preparatory school of the college of New Jersey, the judge accompanied him. But he never would withdraw his citizenship from Pennsylvania. In 1881, he followed his son to Rye, N. Y., where he peacefully passed away, as was remarked by the attendant physician, "with- out disease," at the age of ninety-two. His unassuming monu- ment stands in Hollenback Cemetery.
JOHN NESBIT CONYNGHAM.
John Nesbit Conyngham, was admitted to the bar of Lu- zerne county, Pa., April 3, 1820. He was a native of Phila- delphia, Pa., where he was born December 17, 1798. In that city he received his education, graduating with high honors at the University of Pennsylvania in 1817. Selecting the law for his profession, he was entered as a student in the office of Joseph R. Ingersoll, and in due time was admitted to the bar and at once began the active practice of his profession. In 1820 he left his native city and decided to establish himself at Wilkes-Barre, where, after a few years' practice, he was elevated to the bench
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JOHN NESBIT CONYNGHAM.
and became president judge of the courts of the county. While traveling to this city he came in contact with two persons, one of whom, Samuel Bowman, was a young law student, who, after his admission to the bar of this county, abandoned legal pursuits for the ministry and ultimately became the assistant bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church of Pennsylvania. The other was a granddaughter of the old revolutionary patriot and hero, Colonel Zebulon Butler, and who a few years later became his wife. Among Judge Conyngham's ancestry and connections were sev- eral prominent divines and prelates of the Church of England and Ireland. His grandfather, Redmond Conyngham, was con- nected with old Christ church in Philadelphia. Subsequently he was elected vestryman and warden by the same church, and in 1758 was one of the foremost to assist in the erection of St. Peter's church at Third and Pine streets, Philadelphia. This church was first opened for divine service in 1761, and he was a member of the vestry of the united parishes of both this and Christ church until his decease. The father of John N. Conyngham was David Hayfield Conyngham, who was also connected with the last named church, and was ever prompt to serve its interests with pecuniary assistance or able counsel. In that parish the child was baptized and watched over in his days of infancy and boy- hood. While residing in Wilkes-Barre he interested himself greatly in the welfare of St. Stephen's church, and in 1821 was elected a vestryman. In 1826 a special convention, held in St. Peter's church, Philadelphia, was called by Bishop White to take into consideration the expediency of electing an assistant bishop of the diocese, and it was upon this occasion that he first took his seat in the diocesan convention as a member of that honorable body. In 1844 he was nominated and elected by the convention to the position of deputy to the general convention. In the fol- lowing October, in company with his lay colleagues, George M. Wharton, Judge Stroud, and Herman Cope, he took his seat with that body at Cincinnati. Subsequently, with but a single excep- tion, he was returned to the general convention at every session. In the diocesan convention he was one of the most prominent and influential members, was placed on many important commit- tees, and was highly respected for his earnestness and sterling
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talents. In the general convention, a body composed of four clergymen and four laymen from each diocese, and meeting every third year in order to legislate on matters involving the interests of the whole church in the United States, Judge Conyngham early attained an active and prominent position. In. 1862 he was placed on the most important of all committees, of the house of clerical and law deputies, that known as the committee on canons. On this occasion his lay colleagues were Murray Hoffman, of New York; Judge Chambers, of Maryland; and Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts. As a deputy he was never absent from his post, ever punctual to every appointment, and always ready to sacrifice all personal considerations to his onerous duties. Calm, logical, and withal liberal in his views, he strongly deprecated extreme views and actions and was never willing to compromise by any unwise alliance the polity or the ritual of his church. In 1868 he was elected president of the American church missionary society. This is one of the most important organizations in the Protestant Episcopal church, hav- ing its central office in New York, and embracing in its officers and members clergymen and laymen from nearly every diocese. "In this office," say the minutes adopted by that society and prepared by the Rev. Dr. Tyng, "his presence has brought com- manding dignity to the fulfillment of his duties, his eminent christian character has added veneration and respect to his posi- tion, and his decided evangelical judgments and expressions have enhanced the confidence with which its operations have been regarded." In every public work or movement designed to benefit his brethren or his country he was always an energetic actor, and in all the questions which have agitated the common- wealth or the nation in general during the last fifty years he never failed to take a decided stand upon what he conscientiously believ- ed to be the rightful and truthful side. In early life he was warmly interested in state and national politics, and, though invariably decided and inflexible in his attitude, was respected and admired even by his opponents. In 1849 he represented Luzerne county in the legislature of the state. In all matters of social advance- ment and public improvement, and for the developing of the resources of Pennsylvania in the wise utilization of its vast min-
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