Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 15

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin, 1837-1917; Hand, Alfred, 1835-; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 15
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The political views of Mr. Richmond coin- cide with those of the Republican party regard- ing tariff and coinage, but he gives his support to the Prohibition party, which nominated him for congress in the twelfth district in 1868 and again in 1904. Since 1842 he has been actively identified with the Presbyterian church, has been a member. of the Lackawanna Bible Society for more than three decades, and is a liberal con- tributor to religious enterprises. During the Civil war he was unable to render the United States government active service, but aided the cause by means of a substitute.

June 5, 1849, Mr. Richmond was married to Lois R. Morss, of Windham, Greene county, New York. Their children are: Mary Roxana, who graduated from Vassar College in the class of 1876; married, October 6, 1881, Frederick K. Tracy, formerly of Mansfield, Ohio, an attorney by profession, since 1893 to 1899 vice-president of the Elk Hill Coal and Iron Company, and since 1899 has engaged in the practice of law at Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Tracy reside in Scranton. Their children : Lois Richmond Tracy, now third year at Vassar College ; Emeline Kirt- land, in second year Dwight School, Englewood, New Jersey ; William Richmond Tracy, pursuing course in civil engineering; Mary Avery, and Frederick L., at school. Emeline K., who was educated at Vassar College. Clara Morss, also educated at Vassar College. They are now with their parents. Two children died in infancy. Mr. Richmond erected one of the finest resi- dences in the Lackawanna Valley upon a pleas- antly located farm known as Richmond Hill farm, to which he removed from Carbondale, September 7, 1874. The location is about four miles from the postoffice. Richmond Hill is in the northeastern limits of the city of Scranton. The family is one of the most prominent in the city.

WILLIAM HENRY PECK. Henry Peck (I) was born in England, and was among the earliest settlers in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1638, and was made freeman in 1644. He and Deacon William Peck, who also settled there in 1638, were doubtless relatives and may have been

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

brothers. They are supposed to have emigrated to America in the Company of Governor Eaton. with Rev. John Davenport and others, who ar- rived at Boston, June 26, 1637, in the ship "Hec- tor." He signed the compact of the original set- tlers made at New Haven, June 4, 1639, and took an active interest in the management and affairs of the settlement. His house lot was in that part of the town now included within the city limits of New Haven, and is still occupied by his descendants. Henry Peck died in 1651, and his will bears the date of October 30. 1651. Nothing is known of his marriage except that his wife's name was Joan, and that his will men- tioned four children. They were: Eleazer, bap- tized March 13, 1643: Joseph (twin). baptized September 5, 1647; Benjamin (twin). baptized September 5, 1647: Elizabeth, born March 16, 1649, married John Hotchkiss, December 4,

1672.

Joseph Peck (2) second son of Henry Peck, lived and died in New Haven. He married, No- vember 28, 1672, Sarah Alling, daughter of Roger Alling, of New Haven, Connecticut. His widow was appointed to administer his estate, September 5. 1720, and returned the inventory of property, September 30. 1720. Joseph Peck and Sarah Alling had nine children: Sarah, Joseph, Samuel, James, John, Eliphalet, Abigail, Mary and Ebenezer.

John (3), fifth child of Joseph Peck and wife Sarah Alling, born in New Haven, Connec- ticut, October 6, 1682, living there throughout his life and dying on the paternal homestead. He married, January 30, 1706-07, Esther Morris. . They had children: Joseph, born January 27, 1707-08: Eliphalet, born March 4, 1710; John, born August 30, 1712, died young.

Eliphalet (4). second son of John Peck and wife Esther Morris, was reared probably by his uncle James Peck, who was his guardian, his father having died while his children were young, and his widow after his death married John Mix. Eliphalet left New Haven when he was young and spent most of his life in Danbury, Fairfield county, Connecticut, where he died at an ad- vanced age. His wife's christian name was Re- becca. Eliphalet and Rebecca had children : Jesse, Phineas, Elkanah, John, Stephen, Esther (married Stephen Curtis), and Rebecca (mar- ried Aaron Stone).

Jesse (5), eldest son of Eliphalet Peck and his wife Rebecca, settled in the south part of Danbury (now Bethel), upon new land, which

he cleared of the original forest and made into a farm. He and three of his sons served in the Revolutionary army. He died before the close of the war, and one son, Nathaniel, died of small- pox contracted while in the service. The other two were captured, carried to New York and confined in "The Jersey," which was an old ship anchored in the East river, and used by the British as a prison. Here they suffered many deaths : and when at last they were released and carried home, they were so broken down by disease and brutal treatment that they were not able for a time to recognize their own mother. Jesse was a member of the church at Bethel in 1760, and died January 28, 1777. He married Ruth Hoyt, who was born February 26, 1738, died February 2, 1809. Jesse Peck and Ruth Hoyt had children: Nathaniel, born December 12, 1756, died February 1, 1777 ; Eliphalet, born March 19, 1758; Jesse, born December 22, 1759: Benjamin, born September 24, 1761; Lois, born October 28, 1763, married Israel Nickerson ; Calvin, born September 3, 1765: Luther, born June 12, 1767: Daniel, born August 21, 1769: Mercy, born October 29, 1771, died November 30, 1776; Esther born August 13, 1773. died December 25. 1776.

Luther (6), son of Jesse Peck and wife Ruth Hoyt, lived first in Danbury, Connecticut, re- moved in 1794 with his family to what is now called Middlefield Center, Otsego county, New York. He was for many years a class leader of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was distin- guished for his fidelity to every duty, and his devotion to the cause of Christianity. His fam- ily was remarkable. All his five sons became dis- tinguished clergymen of the Methodist Episco- pal church, and two of them eminent authors. Five of the grandchildren also were prominent clergymen of the same denomination. Luther Peck married, September 27, 1787, Annis Col- lar, who died October 23, 1839. Her father en- listed in the Revolutionary army and died at Val- ley Forge while in service. Luther died Sep- tember 30, 1848. The children born to this couple were :

Rachel, born November 8, 1788, married. De- cember 26, 1804. John Bennett, and settled in Brocklestraw, Pennsylvania.

Martha, born July 31, 1790, married, March 15, 1810, Joshua Jaquays, and settled in Brockle- straw, Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth, born . July 22, 1792, died Novem- ber 30, 1822.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Luther Hoyt, born November 3. 1793.

George, born August 8. 1797, died May 20, 1876, at Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Andrew, born April 29, 1800, died May 6, 1887.

Mary, born November 8, 1801, died Novem- ber 14. 1822.

William, born December 7, 1802, died March 16, 1883, married Charlotte Wallen, January I, 1828.

Anna, born March 9, 1806, married February 23, 1824, Solomon Crowell, and settled in Chau- tauqua county, New York.

Susanna, born August 26, 1808; married, August 5, 1827, Royal Blanding, and settled in Chautauqua county, New York.

Jesse Truesdell, born April 4, 1811, elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1872, died May 17, 1883 : married Persis Wing, October 13, 1831.

George (7), son of Luther and Annis (Collar) Peck, was born in Middlefield, Otsego county, New York, August 8, 1797, and died in Scran- ton, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1876. He was the second in point of age of the famous five sons of Luther Peck, all of whom were ministers in the Methodist Episcopal church. George Peck uni- ted with the church in 1812, and was licensed as an exhorter in 1815. He received a local preach- er's license in 1816, and served on the Cortland (New York) circuit without remuneration. In the same year he joined the Genesee conference on trial. In 1821 he had charge of the church at Paris, New York, which was a station as dis- tinguished from a circuit ; and during the two following years was stationed at Utica. In 1824 he was appointed presiding elder of the Susque- hanna district. He had much to do with Caze- novia Seminary before he became its successful president in 1835. His interest in educational matters was always intense. It is claimed that he "was the originator and the first moving spirit in the founding of Wyoming Seminary." "One evening in the latter part of October, 1839, he delivered an address in the old church at Forty Fort on the subject of education, in which he ad- vanced the idea that a Methodist Seminary was needed in the Wyoming Valley, and that Kings- ton furnished as good a location as could be found for such an institution." One of his biog- raphers further claims that he "was the origina- tor of the first course of study prescribed by the General Conference for traveling preachers."

His election to the editorship of the Metho- dist Quarterly Review "marked a new era in the

history of the magazine, the more liberal policy adopted by the church enabling the editor to de- vote his time and ability chiefly to its advance- ment, and to call to his aid an able corps of paid contributors. The result was that the literary excellence of the journal increased with marked rapidity, while, owing to the greater liberality in publication, the mechanical execution and ele- gance of appearance formed a decided contrast with the preceding volumes." After eight years of very successful work on the Review he was made editor of the New York Advocate. Here his statesmanship was manifest in many lines.

He had joined the Genesee Conference, but became a member of Oneida Conference at its organization, was a member of New York Con- ference during the years of his editorial work, and in 1852 returned to his former fields of labor, becoming a member of Wyoming Conference at its organization. He served the church as del- egate to General Conference in thirteen sessions of that body, being a delegate from 1824 to 1872. His sound judgment and skill in debate were here of great service to the church. Wesleyan University conferred the degree of A. M. upon him in 1835, and in 1840 Augusta College gave him the degree of D. D. He was a member of the Evangelical Alliance which met in London, in August, 1846.

Almost throughout his entire ministerial ca- reer Dr. George Peck was a valuable contributor to the literature of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in other fields of literary effort he enjoyed a reputation as a faithful and accurate writer. His publications, all extant, are: "Uni- versalism Examined," "History of the Apostles and Evangelists," "Scripture Doctrine of Chris- tian Perfection," "Rule of Faith," "Reply to Bascom," "Manly Character," "History of Wy- oming" ( 1858, a rare and valuable work). "His- tory of Methodism Within the Bounds of the Old Genesee Conference," "Our Country, Its Trials and Its Triumphs," "Life and Times of George Peck."

Dr. Peck's fields of labor as a clergyman may be noted as follows: 1816, Broome circuit, New York state, junior preacher; 1817, Cortland ; 1818, Wyoming: 1819, Bridgewater: 1820. Canaan : 1821, Paris : 1822-23, Utica; 1824-25, presiding elder Susquehanna district ; 1826, Wy- oming: 1827, Wilkes-Barre; 1828-29. Ithaca, New York: 1830, L'tica : 1831-32, Cazenovia : 1833-34, Auburn ; 1835-38. principal Cazenovia Seminary; 1839, presiding elder Susquehanna district ; 1840-47, editor Methodist Quarterly

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Review and general book editor of the Book Concern ; 1848-51, editor Christian Advocate; 1852-53, Wilkes-Barre: 1854, presiding elder Wyoming district ; 1855, presiding elder Bing- hamton district : 1856-57. Scranton mission (now Elm Park Church) ; 1858-61, presiding elder Wyoming district ; 1862-65, presiding elder Lackawanna district : 1866-67. Providence ; 1868, Dunmore : 1869-72. presiding elder Wyoming district ; 1873-76. superannuated.

We close this sketch by an estimate of one of his contemporaries : "I view him as one of the mnost remarkable men of our times-one whose genius and piety are indelibly stamped on the ecclesiastical polity and wonderful growth of the church ; whose wise counsels and herculean la- bors are interwoven in its development. For the past fifty years of his whole life he has been distinguished by a devoted love to the church and unswerving loyalty to honest convictions of truth."

Dr. George Peck married, June 10, 1819, Mary Myers, who was the daughter of Philip Myers and wife Martha Bennet (See Myers and Bennet families.) They had children :

George Myers Peck, born at Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1820, died at Scranton, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1897; married, July 18, 1839, Sarah Louisa Butler, who died May 30, 1902, daughter of Merit Butler and wife Sabina Bigelow.

Luther Wesley, born at Kingston. Pennsyl- vania, June 14, 1825, died at Hyde Park, Scran- ton, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1900; entered Wesleyan College, 1840; graduated at the Uni- versity of New York, 1845; received the degree of A. M., New York University in 1848, and D. D., same. 1878; until his death a clergyman of the Methodist church ; married, January 18, 1847, Sarah Maria Gibbon, and had children- Helen, Mary E., Emma D., Frances A., Sarah M., Susan G., Jessie T., Fanny M., and George L., the latter being a lawyer in Scranton, Penn- sylvania.

Mary Helen, born April 10, 1827, educated at Rutger's Institute, New York City, married, January 18, 1847, Rev. J. T. Crane, graduate of Princeton College, and a clergyman of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. They had nine children.

William Fisk, born September 17, 1828, died April 17, 1829.

Wilbur Fisk, born September 1I, 1833, grad- uated in medicine at the University of the City of New York; was surgeon in the army, 1861-

1865; married, January 20. 1857, Sarah Jane- Dean, and had children : George, Louisa, Luther, Mary Catherine, Wilbur and Arthur D.

George Myers Peck (8), eldest child and son of George Peck and wife Mary Myers, was born at Forty Fort, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1820, and died at his house at Green Ridge, Scranton, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1897. He- was educated at Cazenovia Seminary at Cazeno- via, Madison county, New York, and at the age of nineteen years left school to take charge of his. father's farm in the Wyoming Valley in Penn- sylvania. After five years thus profitably em- ployed he determined to enter the Methodist ministry, having prepared himself to that end while working the parental acres. He joined the Oneida (New York) Conference in 1845, be- coming a member of Wyoming Conference at its organization in 1852. His pastoral record is as follows : 1845, Salem: 1846-47, Canaan ; 1848-49, Beach Pond : 1850-51, Mount Pleasant ; 1852-53, Pittston ; 1854-55, Wyoming; 1856-57, Providence : 1858, supernumerary : 1859, Owego, New York; 1860-61, Pittston ; 1862-63, Carbon- dale ; 1864-65, Providence ; 1866-68, presiding elder Lackawanna district: 1869-70, Unadilla, New York : 1871, Berkshire ; 1872-75, supernum- erary ; 1876-77, Cherry Ridge : 1878-79, Salem ; 1880-81, Clifford ; 1882-83, Park Place (Court Street) and Green Ridge (Asbury Church) ; 1884-96, superannuated.

Rev. George Myers Peck married, July 18, 1839, Sarah Louisa Butler, daughter of Merit But- ler and wifeSabina Bigelow, of Onondaga county, New York. The Butlers were a pioneer family in the vicinity of Pompey Hill in Onondaga county, and the locality was originally known as Butler Hill, so called in allusion to Ebenezer Butler, the pioneer, who was a grandson of Jonathan Butler, one of two Irish adventurers who came to Connecticut in 1710, and who is said to have acquired the lands there by purchase from the Onondaga Indians, who willingly exchanged their title for Ebenezer Butler's pony, saddle and bridle. This Ebenezer was a soldier of the Rev- olution, serving with the New York state troops. He attained the remarkable age of ninety-six years : his son Jesse and his wife Louisa Soper, both lived to be ninety-two years old. Merit Butler, a son of Jesse and Louisa, died at eighty-eight, and Sabina Bigelow, Merit Butler's wife died aged eighty-three years. George. Myers' Peck and wife Sarah Louisa Butler had: children :

75.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Merit Butler Peck, born October 8, 1840, died from an accident in Kansas City, Missouri, January 25, 1898.

George 2d, born July 1, 1843, died in Dalton, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1858.

Luther Wesley, born March 22, 1845, living at Green Ridge, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Josiah Eaton, born June 18, 1847, died Octo- ber 24, 1865.

William Henry, born May 28, 1852, now liv- ing in Scranton, Pennsylvania, cashier of the Third National Bank.

William Henry Peck (9), youngest child of George Myers Peck and wife Sarah Louisa But- ler, was born at Pleasant Mount, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1852. At the age of eighteen years he secured a position as clerk in the First National Bank of Scranton. He served efficiently in that capacity for a period of twelve years, until March 7, 1882, when he resigned in order to accept appointment as cashier of the Third National Bank. This bank is numbered among the most substantial and best managed fiduciary institutions in Pennsylvania, and its career which has been of the most creditable, alike conducive to the interests of stockholders, depositors and other customers, has been shaped in large degree by Mr. Peck, who has served as cashier to the present time, and who as a finan- cier enjoys the unbounded confidence of the community. The bank safely passed through the financial panic of the year following its es- tablishment (1873), and its growth has been steady and. permanent. November 5, 1877, re- moval was made to its new building, one of the then architectural ornaments of the city, and which contains very convenient and attractive banking rooms. February 5, 1892, the bank was rechartered for a further period of twenty years. Its total resources amount to $4.717,934.29, its deposits to $3,402,876.24, its capital is $200,000, and its surplus and undivided profits are $865 .- 000. The officers are: William Connell, presi- dent : Henry Belin, Jr., vice-president ; William H. Peck, cashier ; directors: William Connell, James L. Connell, James Archibald, Henry Be- lin, Jr., George H. Catlin, J. Benjamin Dimmick, Luther Keller, William D. Zehnder, William H. Peck.

Mr. Peck's high standing among the finan- ciers of the state is attested by his election in 1904 to the presidency of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association, of which he was one of the organizers in 1895. He is a member of the Scranton Board of Trade, and chairman of its

finance committee, and has borne a large part in the promotion of the material interests of the city. He is a member of the Wyoming Histor- ical and Geological Society, a trustee of Syra- cuse University, in whose welfare he takes a lively interest, a member and trustee of the Elm Park Methodist Episcopal church, and treasurer of its board of trustees, and president of the Scranton Bedding Company, one of the enter- prising and prosperous corporations of Scranton .. He possesses highly cultured tastes, and is an ardent floriculturist. His particular delight is in the cultivation of water lilies, of which he has. many varieties, having the only pond of lilies in the city of Scranton.

Mr. Peck married, at West Pittston, Penn- sylvania, March II, 1873, Miss M. Arminda. Kyte, and to them have been born six children, all born in Scranton: William Joseph, born January 24, 1874, married Lawson Hart, Octo- ber 6, 1897 ; Alice Louise, born October 13, 1877, married Frank A. Kaiser, November 12, 1901 ; Grace Arminda, born September 3, 1880; Han- nah, born September 21, 1884, died August 6, 1887; Mary, born and died April 12, 1888; Nel- son, born April 30, 1891.

THOMAS J. FOSTER, founder and presi -- dent of the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, enjoys a national reputation as the author of an absolutely unique educational meth- od-that of teaching the industrial sciences through improved text-books for home study, under guidance and assistance rendered the stu- dent through the mails. The origin and develop- ment of this now world-renowned institution forms a narrative of great interest.

When a young man Mr. Foster was publish- er of a paper at Shenandoah, Schuylkill county, a town of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and he made it phenomenally successful, working its circulation up to fifteen thousand. His office be- came headquarters for merchants, mine operators and miners alike, and a certain feeling of inti- macy sprang up between them. The prevalence of accidents and great number of fatalities that were constantly occurring, due to ignorance of mine conditions as well as ordinary dangers, sug- gested to him the necessity of educating miners and those in charge of mines in the theory and scientific principles involved in their various du- ties, not only for the benefit of the individual, but for the protection and safety of human life, by familiarizing them with the conditions and dan- gers of the mines. A fatal mine explosion in,

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

1873, near Shenandoah, in which several of the prominent men lost their lives, was a source of special inspiration Mr. Foster had for undertak- ing such a task. He first published a "Mining Manual" for the enlightenment of the miners, which he distributed among them, and the eager- ness with which they received it encouraged him to begin the publication of a journal, The Mining Herald, in 1881, and which he conducted suc- cessfully for several years. In the autumn of 1887 the title was changed to The Colliery En- gineer. The growth of the publication was such that the following year it was decided to move the publication offices to Scranton, the metrop- olis of the anthracite coal region. In 1890 the business was incorporated under the name of the Colliery Engineer Company.

In the fall of the same year Mr. Foster con- ceived the idea of teaching the theory of coal mining to miners who desired to qualify them- selves for certificates for competency as mine foremen, which were required of all men aspir- ing to that position by the mine law of 1885. and he established what was known as the Col- liery Engineer School of Mines. The course of instruction was prepared with special reference to the needs of miners, many of whom were bare- ly able to read and write, and who did not have time to give to study except as it was taken from the hours which they were accustomed to de- vote to rest and recreation. The lessons were issued in the form of carefully prepared pamph- lets, with questions following. The course be- gan with the most elementary subjects, and by easy steps the student was taken to the higher branches, and all subjects were taught in a sim- ple and concise manner, all superfluous matter being eliminated so that every line in the course had a direct bearing upon the subject taught. Aids to the understanding of the text were af- forded by means of elaborate cuts, diagrams, etc. It was a startling experiment, and was ridiculed and antagonized by many scholastic institutions and educators, but Mr. Foster never for a mo- ment faltered in his faith as to the ultimate suc- cess of his method. He was encouraged from time to time by the rapid advance of the students who had qualified themselves under this instruc- tion for successfully filling official mining posi- tions. The writing, editing, illustrating and com- position, etc., of the first course involved constant labor for a period of twelve years, and an out- lay of $35,000. A few years after the establish- ment of the schools, owing to the fact that the Colliery Engineer magazine had developed into

a general mining journal, its name was changed to Mines and Minerals.

As the correspondence system of instruction had developed into many fields, the various de- partments of the schools were grouped under the name of the International Correspondence Schools, and the enterprise was subsequently in- corporated under the style of the International Textbook Company as proprietors. From the beginning the history of the schools has been one of astonishing growth. Probably their most distinctive and remarkable feature consists in the method of obtaining their more than three- quarters of a million (eight hundred thousand) students who have been enrolled in the institu- tion. The system of obtaining enrollment and the making of the student after enrollment af- fords an interesting chapter, and is important no less as an educational than as a financial feature of the schools. They have an army of some fifteen hundred solicitors, or field men, scouring the cities, towns and country side for student ma- terial, talking up the advantages of education. and the practicability of their methods. The ed- ucational sentiment they create is far-reaching. They use diligent efforts to interest a prospective student, and, after enrolled, they keep in touch with him, lending him their continued encour- agement and assistance. The value of this ed- ucational sentiment thus created and represented by a vast army of students, cannot be overesti- mated. As the prime purpose of educational in- stitutions is to inspire study, and prepare stu- dents for a life career, the Correspondence Schools, with their vast enrollment of sttt- dents, has no equal as an educational me- dium. Another strong

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 15

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin, 1837-1917; Hand, Alfred, 1835-; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin, 1837-1917; Hand, Alfred, 1835-; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1026