Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 16

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 16
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 16

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).

feature of the in- stitution is its text-books. Since a very large proportion of its students lack even an element- ary education, the text-books must necessarily be simple, and suited to the comprehension of un- educated and untrained minds. They contain no superfluous matter, and only the important and essential features of the subject in hand is treated. Constant revision of these text-books is made, all changes being in the nature of sim- plification, and more and more interesting and attractive. So well have these ends been con- served that more than three times as many stu- dents now complete the respective courses as did formerly. Students are provided with in- quiry blanks to be filled out and forwarded to the Schools for any information or enlightment required upon any subject under study. These inquiries formerly imposed herculean labor to

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS ..

answer, but the simplicity and particularity of the revision now in use have in great measure obviated the necessity for inquiries, and relieved the institution of much of its former burdens. No labor or expense has been spared in making this revision. The highest technical authorities have been employed, and the revised text-books are widely recognized as standard authority, the best evidence of the fact being their adoption in leading colleges throughout the land.

While the thoroughness and simplicity of text-books and the system of correspondence ob- viates the necessity of a resident teacher, another great feature in the system of education and courses of study is found in the absolute freedom of the student to elect what he desires to study, and when he is able to study. He may give one, two or three hours a day ; he may drop his course and take it up again when he chooses ; for, when once an enrolled student of the institution, he is considered a student for as long a period as he desires, and the Schools stand ready at all times to render any required assistance.

At the present time the management con- ducts thirty schools, teaching nearly all the ap- plied sciences and the commercial and higher branches. More than a million dollars has been invested in the preparation of courses, and a quarter million of dollars is being annually added to this amount. In all, more than four and a half million dollars has been expended in the development of the enterprise, more than one- fifth of which is represented by buildings and the printing plant. The latter is an elaborately equipped establishment, from which is issued all the printed matter necessary to the conduct of the business, including artistic illustrative work. The buildings. erected at a cost of more than five hundred thousand dollars, comprise three structures, the combined area of which is about seven acres, as follows: The Administration De- partment, two buildings, approximately fifty feet by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and forty- five by sixty-six feet, five and four stories in height, respectively ; the Instruction Department and Printery, covering an area of one hundred and sixty-seven by four hundred and sixty feet, two and three stories in height, heated by steam and lighted by electricity from plants on the premises.

The faculty. headed by Thomas J. Foster as president, numbers thirty-one principals of Schools, and thirteen assistant principals. These, as previously stated, have had under their in- struction, in one form or another, more than

eight hundred thousand persons, and they have helped thousands to higher and better remu- nerated positions, in every field of industrial and commercial life, and also in various of the pro -. fessions. The great value of these allied Schools is attested by many facts, but by none more sig- nificant than that one hundred and thirty-two railroad companies have entered into contract. with the management for the technical educa- tion of their employes, thirty-five thousand of whom are now under instruction. The Schools also give thorough preparation to applicants for - practically all positions in the various depart- ments of the United States government, which are only attainable through civil service examina- tions, for which the International Correspond- ence Schools afford ample preparation. In this work the methods of the Schools are practically identical with those of the Civil Service Com- mission, the examination blanks being of the same nature, and the grading being similarly conducted.

Mr. Foster, who, for his great services as epitomized in this narrative, is justly to be ac- counted as a public benefactor of the highest and most practical type, is closely identified with the community life of the city of Scranton, and is held in the highest regard for his business abil- ities, public spirit and genial personality. He is a member of the Scranton Board of Trade, a director in the Traders' National Bank, and is interested in various other financial and com- merical institutions. He is of scholarly dispo- sition and aesthetic tastes, and carries into his varied business relations, and particularly the great educational system of which he is the head, a degree of healthy sentimentalism which dis- tinguishes him from the many whose only am- bitions are based upon a purely commercial spirit, and look only to financial returns for their life effort.

Mr. Foster comes of an excellent English an- cestry, tracing his descent from Reginald Foster, who came from Ipswich, England, in 1638. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas Foster, was a resident of Ipswich, Massachusetts; he was one of the minutemen at Lexington ; a lieutenant in the patriot army during the Revolution, and was honorably discharged in 1778, being past the age for military service. Daniel, son of Lieut. Thom- as Foster, took his father's place in the army, and it was his distinguished honor to be a mem- ber of the Marquis de Lafayette's select battal- ion until the end of the war, and to rise to the rank of captain. Jesse Foster, son of Captain

-78

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Daniel Foster, came from Newburyport, Mas- sachusetts, to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in Feb- ruary, 1831, where he became a prosperous mer- chant, and resided until his death. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. He married Elizabeth Tappan, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and their children were : Thomas, father of Thomas J. Foster; Mrs. Oliver Dob- son, Mrs. Edward Shisler, Clement S., father of Rufus J. Foster, a sketch of whom appears in this work ; Fred L. and Mrs. E. N. Harpel.

JOHN D. PECK. The members of the Peck family have been foremost in the line of original settlement in the Lackawanna Valley, have risen to the first rank in the development of its indus- tries, and in the improvement and building up of the town of Peckville, Pennsylvania, they have been important and influential factors. The family is of English origin, the ancestors having belonged to the aristocracy of their native land, where they figured in the highest walks of life. The first member of the family to emigrate to this country was Joseph Peck, in 1638. He settled in New England, where his descendants became numerous and influential. They have filled many of the first offices of the state, have represented the useful and honorable professions, and have always proved themselves loyal citizens and orna- ments to society.

Abraham Peck, great-grandfather of John D. Peck, was born in Massachusetts, December 23, 1723. He subsequently removed to Colerain, Franklin county, same state, where his death oc- curred on July 18, 1798, in the seventy-fifth year · of his age. His son, Abraham, Jr., grandfather of John D. Peck, was born June 24, 1767, and died in 1831. On February 3, 1790, he was united in marriage to Miss Arathusa Calvin, who was born April II, 1771, and died August 23, 1824. The children of Abraham, Jr., and Arathusa (Calvin) Peck are as follows: Calvin, born November 1, 1791 ; Samuel, born January 15, 1793 : John, born May 27, 1794: Jerre, born February 6, 1796; Moses, born May 2, 1798; Arathusa, born Octo- ber 12, 1801 ; Matilda, born November 27, 1804: Laura, born December 21, 1806; Abraham, born November 7. 1808; Lovella, born May 7, 18II; Joanna, born September 28, 1813: Moses, born September 26, 1816, and' Harriet, born August 12, 1826.

Samuel Peck, of the above family, father of John D. Peck, removed from Massachusetts, where he was born, reared and educated, to Penn- sylvania, in 1831. Lackawanna Valley was then an unbroken wilderness, and Scranton was un-

known. He purchased a large tract of land in and around Peckville, and in 1839 erected a saw and grist mill. He was a thoroughgoing Yan- kee, manufactured lumber on a large scale, but confined himself to the lumber of commerce, leav- ing for others the mahogany hams and wooden nutmegs. He manufactured builders' supplies, such as doors, window sashes and other articles used in his day. He also supplied the market from his grist mill.

December 31, 1816, Samuel Peck married Sarah Wilson, who was born June 20, 1792, and their children were: Samuel L., born November 28, 1817 ; Mary A., born April 4, 1819 : Sarah W., born June 25, 1821 ; Arathusa B., born December 29, 1823 ; Jonathan W., born July 9, 1826; Ema- line C., born May 8, 1829 : Elvira C., born May 8, 1829, twin of Emaline C .: John Dwight, born April 26, 1831, mentioned hereinafter ; and Cal- vin, born July 21, 1834. After the death of the mother of these children, Samuel Peck married Susan Snider, the ceremony having been perform- ed on January 28, 1845 : one child was the issue of this union, William W., born March 9, 1847. Mrs. Susan (Snider) Peck died August 11, 1857.

John D. Peck, third son of Samuel and Sarah (Wilson) Peck, was born April 26, 1831. After acquiring an education in the schools of the neigh- borhood, he, in connection with his brother Jon- athan W., worked with their father in the lumber business until 1861, in which year they established a lumber business on their own account in Peck- ville. This connection continued for twenty years, and at the expiration of that period of time they sold out to the Peck Manufacturing Com- pany of Peckville, John D. serving in the capacity of president of the company. He is one of the well known and much respected men in the Lack- awanna valley, and in addition to his incumbency of the office of president of the Peck Manufactur- ing Company is also interested in the United States Lumber Company. Mr. Peck has been hon- ored by the office of chief burgess of Blakely, which he held one term: member of council for three terms, and a member of the school board for thirteen years. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. His religious views coincide with those advocated by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has been a faithful and staunch upholder of that doctrine for over forty years, serving as trustee during all that long period. Mr. Peck is a member of Oriental Star Lodge, No. 588, Free and Accepted Masons of Peckville, and a member of the chapter and commandery of Scranton.

Mr. Peck has been married three times. First,

Andrew Nicol

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

to Miss Sarah Snider, on August 25, 1852. To this union were born three children: George C., July 7, 1853 ; Sanford D., February 28, 1856 ; and Byron N., March 7, 1858. Mrs. Sarah (Snider) Peck died in 1858. Mr. Peck married for his sec- ond wife Miss Delano Stone on November 8, 1860. She was born December 25, 1839, and died in 1876. Their children were: Herbert J., born September 15, 1863; Bertha E., born April 19. 1866; William G., born October 13, 1868; Arthur M., born August 22, 1873; and Dilla E., born February 1, 1876. Mr. Peck married for his third wife Mary F. Robinson on January 16, 1878.

ANDREW NICOL, deceased, was a worthy figure among a group of typical Scotchmen who were early comers to the Lackawanna valley, and who contributed in a highly superior degree to the development of the industrial interests of that now world-famous region. His associate fellow- countrymen, and with whom he was intimately related in business and social affairs, were such strong characters as Thomas Dickson, Edward Weston and A. H. Vandling. All of this excel- lent company have now passed away Mr. Vand- ling last of all, surviving Mr. Nicol by but a year. Mr. Nichol was a fine representative of the sturdy race from which he sprang, possessing all those traits of character for which it has ever been noted-unflagging industry and persever- ance, conscientious devotion to principle, and un- impeachable integrity. His fidelity and worth are discernable in his service with one great cor- poration for the long period of forty-five years, and his masterly ability in his calling by the high- est honor therein which the government of Penn- sylvania could bestow. His personal life was ex- emplary throughout and was characterized by all that marks the truly good citizen and blameless christian.

He was born at Troughrig, in the parish of Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland. August 20, 1817, and was baptized at Dalquharran, in the parish of New Daily. His parents were John and Janet (Gray) Nicol. The Nicol (originally MacNicol) family originated in the Highlands. John Nicol was a carpenter and millwright to the Right Hon- orable Thomas Francis Kennedy, of Dalquharran, who was owner of two collieries which had been in operation for more than two hundred years. In 1851 he came to America with his family and set- tled in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of seventy-six years, and his wife at the age of seventy years. She was also a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, and of the Covenanter faith.

They were the parents of seven children, of whom Andrew was the second.

At the age of thirteen years Andrew Nicol began to learn carpentry under his father and after four years' service went to Glasgow, where he worked as a journeyman giving his spare time to studying draughting and pattern making. After two years thus spent he engaged as a pat- tern maker in the Girdwood foundry at Trades- ton, Glasgow, and a year later entered the Sum- merlee Iron Works at Cote Bridge in the same capacity. After one years' service manager Wal- ter Nelson transferred him to the machine shop, where he acquitted himself with so much credit that after two years he was made foreman. Mean- time he had determined to fit himself for mining engineering, to that end studying geology and mineralogy, and six months after his promotion he sought and obtained employment with the en- gineering force of the works, thus gaining op- portunity to obtain practical as well as theoretical knowledge of the science which he had chosen for his life work. He made rapid advancement, and at the end of eighteen months was appointed as- sistant superintendent of mines and machinery, and remained with the company until October I, 1847, when he was engaged to take charge of the Kennedy mines and machinery at Dalquhar- ran (where his father yet resided) and he con- tinued in this employment until March, 1851.

April 6, 1851, Mr. Nicol sailed from Glasgow in the ship "Mary Morris," and arrived in New York on May 18. He was in the prime of life, thirty-four years of age, the personification of manly vigor and ambition, and the master of a profession which (and especially in the United States) offered attractive opportunities. He had given "hostage to fortune." for he brought with him wife and children, and his parents also ac- companied him. The day after landing in New York, Mr. Nicol went on to Albany, thence to Schenectady and Scotia, where respectively were located his brothers William, John and James, who had come to the country before him. Leav- ing his family with his brother William, in Al- bany, on June Ist he went to Pennsylvania. On his arrival in Carbondale he sought out an old- country friend, Mr. Bryden, who gave him intro- duction to James Clarkson, superintendent of the coal department of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, who at once gave him a position as his assistant. As a keynote to the character of the man it is to be remarked that in this same week, the first of his employment in the land of his adoption, Mr. Nicol purchased a home, and dur-

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

ing his entire life after his coming he never lived in a rented house.

Mr. Nicol served as assistant to Mr. Clark- son in the Carbondale mines until 1863, when he was appointed general superintendent. He was so occupied until 1870, when he came to Scran- ton, still in the employ of the same company, which owned mines from Carbondale to Wilkes- Barre. Here he served as mining engineer and inside superintendent, and at one time went to Sheffield, Illinois, to open up a mine for his com- pany.

In 1870 Mr. Nicol was awarded a well de- served distinction. In that year the legislature enacted a law providing for the inspection of the anthracite coal fields, and he was recom- mended for the position. In compliance with the provisions of the law he appeared before the state board of engineers, and, after passing a rigid examination covering every department of mine operation, received the only first-class cer- tificate issued by the board, whereupon Governor John W. Geary commissioned him inspector of coal mines for the eastern district of Pennsyl- vania, for a term of five years. July 20 shortly after receiving his commission Mr. Nicol was re- lieved from service with his company and en- tered upon his new duties. His new vocation called him so constantly from home that it proved distasteful to a man of his domestic habits, and in December of the same year he resigned, the same day resuming his former position with the Delaware & Hudson Company. He was so em- ployed until January 1. 1874, when he asked re- lief from duties which had become overweighty. To some degree his wishes were complied with, but, instead of being allowed respite from all la- bors, he was engaged to take charge of the Green Ridge colliery. In 1875 he resumed his former position with the Delaware & Hudson Company, which he occupied until January 1, 1897, when he was permanently relieved. To this time he had served the company a greater length of time than any other man in its employ, a period of forty-six years, with signal ability and imselfish loyalty, and, in consideration of his long and valued service, he was placed upon the retired list, with a pension.

Such was the greater part of the life of An- drew Nicol. True to one of the chief characteris- tics of his race, he was devoted (in the full meaning of the word) to his calling, not simply as such, or as a means of livelihood. He held to a lofty conception of duty, and estimated at the fullest the weight of his responsibilities in guard- ing the interests of his employers and the lives

of the men under him. These considerations pressed upon him to that degree that he could not be persuaded to enter upon public life, though he was repeatedly solicited to become a candidate for mayor and assemblyman. From this it is not to be inferred that he neglected com- munity affairs. No man felt a deeper interest in the welfare of his town and the well-being of his neighbors, and he exercised an influence po- tent for good. A man of cool judgment and careful observation, discreet, conservative and eminently practical and the soul of honor in all the relations of life, he bore himself with spot- lessness of character ; and, when his advice was sought, as it frequently was, his approvals or warnings were known to be the dictates of a sympathetic heart and wholly unselfish mind. He was a liberal contributor to deserving charities and to the relief of those of the community who might be overtaken by misfortune, bestowing his benefactions so modestly that few of his most in- timate friends knew of them. He was deeply at- tached to the religion of his forbears, and was one of the founders of the Green Ridge Presby- terian Church, of which he was a worthy mem- ber from its formation to the end of his life.

Mr. Nicol passed away, at the family home, corner of Dickson avenue and Delaware street, Green Ridge, on August 6, 1898, being within fourteen days of completing his eighty-first year. The funeral services were held at the same place, August 9, and were largely attended. The in- terment was in Dunmore cemetery. Following a time honored custom of his native Scotland, the remains of the deceased were conveyed to their last resting place by the nearest male relatives (two grandsons and four nephews) acting as pallbearers.

On June 12, 1846, five years before leaving Scotland, and when in his twenty-ninth year, Mr. Nicol married Helen Brown, born in ( Maybole) Ayrshire, second daughter of David and Agnes ( Haswell) Brown, and granddaughter of John Brown and William Haswell. Her father was a merchant and manufacturer. Her brother William resides in Green Ridge, Pennsylvania. Five chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Nicol, two in Scotland, and the others in this country. Janet died in early childhood: Andrew came to his death in the mines in September, 1889; Agnes died young : Margaret and Mary alone survive. Mr. Nicol gave to the rearing of his children the affectionate and conscientious care which charac- terized the Scotch parent of a bygone day, and those who came to maturity stand as monuments to the highest Christian duty faithfully performed ..

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

The noble character of the son, Andrew B. Nicol, his heroism and his pitiful death, are dwelt upon in another narrative. Margaret, the elder of the living sisters, has for three years past served as an assistant to the pastor of the Green Ridge Presbyterian Church, and within a year has made as many as two thousand visits to his parishioners and the homes of sorrow and want. The younger sister, Mary, cares for the family home, and for the aged mother who, while blessed in the com- panionship of the children who remain with her, holds constant communion with the loved ones gone before.

"More homelike seems the vast unknown

Since they have entered there ;

To follow them were not so hard Wherever they may fare. They cannot be where God is not, On any sea or shore ;

Whate'er betides, Thy love abides, Our God for ever more!"

ANDREW B. NICOL. In all the history of the Lackawanna valley there is no more distress- ing event recorded, nor any story of more heroic effort and self-sacrifice for the sake of others, than that relating to the death of Andrew B. Nicol, general superintendent of mines of the Del- aware & Hudson Canal Company, on September 14 1889. His heroism and great personal cour- age form a narrative well worth the repeating. for it is from such examples that others in suc- ceeding times catch the inspiration to dare and even die for their fellows. He inherited the pa- ternal characteristics ; became widely known as one of the most accomplished miners in all the great Pennsylvania coal region; and, as is at- tested by his life as well as his death, was a noble manly character.

He was a native of Scotland, born in the par- ish of Dalquharran, Ayrshire, April 1, 1849, son of Andrew Nicol. He was but two years old when his parents came to the United States, settling in Carbondale. From his early youth he manifested an intense desire to engage in mining, and, after acquiring a rudimentary education, declined an offer to send him to a distant school for a techni- cal training, preferring to engage in practical work. He entered the surveying corps of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company when fif- teen years old, and gave his attention diligently to all in which he was called to engage or which he could observe. It was a fortunate period for him, for the company was extending its opera- tions down the Lackawanna Valley, continually absorbing new coal fields, opening new mines 2-6

and enlarging old workings. Nothing escaped his close attention, and he became so familiar with all the details of mine operations, both above and under ground, that before he was twenty years old he became assistant to his father in su- perintending the workings of the mines about Providence (now Scranton) while his father was engaged about Carbondale. Subsequently the elder Nicol was moved to Green Ridge, and the son succeeded him at Carbondale. It was a try- ing position for so young a man-he but a youth, set over mine bosses whose hair had grown gray in the service. It is, however, equally creditable to him and them that they held each other in mu- tual respect-they rightly esteemed his earnest- ness, ability and courage, and gave him their ad- miration and loyal effort ; he respected them for their years, their experience and their devotion, and he made them his familiar friends, for years meeting them almost nightly, rehearsing with them the events of the day, and planning for those of the morrow. Thus deeply interested, Mr. Nicol developed an aptitude for his calling which can only be characterized as phenomenal. He came to know every miner and breaker-boy by name; knew every mine room, in all its details, as intimately as though he worked in it contin- ually and in it alone. There was not an aban- doned working in his district which he had not entered ; not a neighboring mine he had not ex- plored. His ability found recognition, and the area of his district was enlarged from time to time until, as his father's assistant, he was given the charge of all the company's mines between Forest City and Plymouth, a distance of forty- five miles. In 1884 he assumed the duties hith- erto devolving upon his father (who had been in- capacitated while fighting a fire in the Leggett Creek mines) and in 1885 he removed to Green Ridge and took full charge of the company's mines, a position which be held until his death.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 16

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