Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 24

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 24
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 24

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The children of Jesse and Lydia ( Miller) Ful- ler were: Elizabeth, born December 29, 1786, married Nathan Guild; Lydia, born April 13, 1787, married William Walcott; Jesse, born No- vember 23, 1792, married Philanda Morse and (second) Sallie Billings; Sarah (called Sally), born May 5. 1795, married Jesse Whiting ; Han- nah, born March 10, 1797, married David Holmes ; Nancy, born July 7, 1801, died August 31, 1841, who was second wife of Jesse Whiting. Jesse Fuller (7), son of Jesse and Lydia (Miller) Fuller, married Philanda Morse and afterward Sallie Billings. Among his children was

Charles A. Fuller (8), who was born at Southbridge, Massachusetts, January 21, 1821. He was a builder and carpenter by trade. He re- moved to New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, in 1830, and to Clinton, same county, in 1845, and remained a resident there until 1873, a period of twenty-eight years. During this time he operated a planing mill on the east side of the Oriskany creek, on College street, and also built the College observatory, the Bartlett residence, and the house nearly opposite, now owned by Mrs. Libbey. Later he took up his residence in Utica, New York, where for many years he led a retired life. He was a member of the Pres- byterian Church, a Republican in politics, and served as a clarionet player in the militia. He married Carile Gates, and their children were: Arthur C., a sketch of whom follows this; Al- bert W., and William S. Of this number Albert W. married Sarah Shaw, and had four children : Mabel, wife of Charles A. Peck ; Grace: a son that died in early childhood; and Clarence. Charles A. Fuller passed away at his home in Westmoreland, Oneida county, New York, July 2, 1904, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Oliver Owen. of St. James Church, and the in- terment was in Clinton cemetery. He is survived by two sons: Arthur C. Fuller, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. and Albert W. Fuller. of Albany,

New York. He also leaves three sisters-Miss Mary E. Fuller, of Clinton, New York : Mrs. Sarah McEntee, of Westmoreland, New York; and Mrs. Julia L. Earl, of Lynn, Massachusetts.

Arthur C. Fuller (9), eldest son of Charles A. and Carile (Gates) Fuller, was born Febru- ary 27, 1849, in Oneida county, New York. He was educated in the district and high schools of Clinton, New York, but relinquished a collegiate course which he prepared for, in order to become a clerk in a store at Clinton, in which capacity he served for two years. The following year he was employed in the branch office of the Rem- ington Agricultural Works at Utica, New York, from which he was transferred to the main office of the company at Ilion, New York, where he re- mained two years. He was then employed with J. S. & M. Peckham, stove manufacturers, at Utica, for nine years, and had charge of the fin- ancial part of the business up to 1882. In that year he located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, be- came connected with the Scranton Stove Works, and with J. A. Lansing purchased the controlling interest and became treasurer, and at the present time (1905) is vice-president and treasurer of the same. The business was established in 1866 by the Scranton Stove and Manufacturing Com- pany, later was changed to the Scranton Stove Works, which was founded by some of Scran- ton's best known business men of the past and present, among them the late Colonel J. A. Price, J. J. Albright. J. C. Platt, H. S. Pierce, J. A. Linen and William Connell. The business was first located on West Lackawanna avenue, but in 1892 removed to the present site and erected a new plant which, with extensive additions re- cently constructed, is one of the largest exclu- sive stove plants in the east. The plant occupies nine acres, three and one-half acres under roof. It employs four hundred men, and their chief product is the manufacture of the "Dockash" stoves and ranges. Mr. Fuller is a member of the Board of Trade, director. and member of the executive committee and vice-president of the Pennsylvania Casualty Company. He is a mem- ber of the Green Ridge Presbyterian Church, and of its board of trustees, of which body he is sec- retary. He is a member of the Scranton Club, the Green Ridge Club, the Green Ridge Wheel- men's Building Company, in which he is a di- rector, and he was one of the organizers and for eleven years treasurer of the New England So- ciety of Northeastern Pennsylvania. For his services in the capacity named the Society, at its annual banquet, in 1903, presented to him a lov- ing-cup inscribed as follows: "Presented by the

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New England Society of North-eastern Pennsyl- vania to Mr. Arthur Charles Fuller, in recogni- tion of efficient services as Treasurer, 1892- 1903.

Mr. Fuller married, December 17, 1873. Clara Woolworth, a daughter of Cornwell and Ange- line (Coe) Woolworth, and their children are: Howard A., a graduate of Lafayette College ; he is a member of the firm of Foote & Fuller Com- pany, house furnishing goods, at Scranton. Ray W., also a graduate of Lafayette College, receiv- ing the degree of electrical engineer ; he then learned the stove business at St. Louis, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois, and is now superintendent of the manufacturing part of the stove business of the Scranton Stove Works. He married Grace Sanderson, who bore him a son, Arthur C. Fuller, and a daughter, Louise S. Fuller. Florence M., who died at the age of three years. Floid M., a junior in the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, Boston, Massachusetts, mechanical en- gineering course. Warren L., a student at Hav- erford Preparatory school, Haverford, Pennsyl- vania.

EDWARD BAKER STURGES, of Scran- ton, has contributed largely to the development of that city during the many years that it has been his home.

The narrative of his ancestry, which we copy largely from Mr. Kulp's volume, is of peculiar interest in at least one respect. The four direct ancestors of his father and mother came to this country within twenty years after the arrival of the Mayflower. He is a descendant of Roger Sturgis (an early form of the name), of Clips- ton, Northamptonshire, England, whose children are identified through his will, made November 10, 1530. From him the family line is traced through Robert, Roger, and Robert, to Edward, the first of the family in America. Edward Sturges came to Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1634, and later settled in Yarmouth. From him the family line is traced through Peter and Chris- topher to Joseph. Joseph Sturges settled in Stamford, Connecticut, where his son Lewis was born, July 15, 1756, and died in 1838. His wife was Mary Porter. His son, Joseph Porter Sturges, was born in 1784, and died in 1861. His wife was Laura, a daughter of Thomas H. Bene- dict.

Thomas H. Benedict was a descendant of Thomas Benedict, whose history is given in "The Genealogy of the Benedicts in America," by Henry Marvin Benedict, who says: "Among those Englishmen who went into voluntary exile

rather than endure the cruelties and oppressions. of the Stuarts, was Thomas Benedict, of Notting- hamshire." The writer says there is reason to suppose that the family anciently resided in the silk manufacturing district of France, and were of Latin origin; that Huguenot persecutions arising, they fled to Germany, and thence by way of Holland to England. In 1640 Thomas Bene- dict was an inhabitant of Southold, Long Island, in 1657 of Huntington, and in 1662 of Jamaica, Long Island. March 20, 1663, Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, appointed him a magistrate; in September of the same year he was one of the Long Islanders who petitioned to be annexed to the Connecticut colony. He was one of the. most important men of his day. He was a com- missioner when the English under Colonel Rich- ard Nicolls supplanted the Dutch authority, and was a member of "a general meeting" on the last day of February, 1665, this being probably the first English incumbent of nearly if not all the local offices. He was identified with the found- ing of what some have termed the first Presby- terian Church in America, at Jamaica, Long Is- land, in 1662. He died November 20, 1689. His son, Lieutenant Daniel Benedict, was born on Long Island, removed to Norwalk, Connecticut ; was a soldier in "the swamp fight," December 19, 1675 ; in 1690 removed to Danbury, Connecti- cut. He married Mary, daughter of Matthew- Marvin.

Rev. Thomas Benedict Sturges, son of Joseph Porter and Laura (Benedict) Sturges, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1812. For more- than thirty years he was the Congregational min- ister at Greenfield Hill, in that state. · It is a note- worthy fact that the only vote he ever cast for a presidential candidate was for James G. Blaine. He married Hannah West, daughter of Chauncey Baker; her father was a banker, at one time sheriff of Jefferson county, New York, and a de- voted Presbyterian ; her mother was a daughter of Hosiah Pratt, of Jefferson county, New York, descended from Lieutenant William Pratt, who was at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1633.

Edward Baker Sturges, son of Rev. Thomas Benedict and Hannah West ( Baker) Sturges, was born at Greenfield Hill, Connecticut, Feb- ruary 15, 1845. He was educated at the College- of New York, residing in that city for five years. During the Civil war he served with troops called out to defend the national authority, and his first visit to Pennsylvania was when, as a member of a New York regiment, he aided in driving from its soit the invading rebel army of General Robert E. Lee. He read law. under the

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preceptorship of J. D. Alvord, of Fairfield county, Connecticut, and in February, 1867, was admitted to the bar of that county. In the same year, he came to Luzerne county to attend the funeral of a relative, and was so favorably impressed by the prospects of Scranton, that he abandoned his purpose of locating in the city of New York. John B. Smith, then general manager of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, was largely instrumental in aiding him to a footing in Scranton, and in the course of a few years he had built up a large practice, which soon became equally remunerative, per- haps, with that of any other practitioner in the city. He gave himself to it unsparingly until he had become largely interested in important business affairs, and felt the necessity of sur- rendering a part of his work or suffering ser- ious impairment of health. He had carefully investigated European applications for the electrical operation of railways, and, convinced of its practicability, he set himself to its in- troduction in Scranton ; organized a company for the purpose of building an electrical street railway ; personally superintended the construc- tion of the road and the building of its equip- ment, and as president directed its operation. As a result he brought to the city the distinc- tion of having the first street railway in the United States built for electric power (not- withstanding claims made by other localities). and Scranton became famous as "The Electric City.' He also organized and became presi- dent of the Lackawanna Electric Power Com- pany, which supplied power to the Scranton roads ; and the Suburban Electric Light Com- pany. He is yet identified with many import- ant interests, and is now president of the Pine Hill Coal Company, president of the Clarence Coal Company, a director in the Dolph Coal Company, and many other local business inter- ests. He was, during its construction, presi- dent of the Ontario, Carbondale and Scranton Railroad (now the Wyoming division of the Ontario and Western Railroad), president of the proposed New York, Wyoming and West- ern Railroad ; also, of the Scranton Coal Com- pany; and a director in the New York, On- tario & Western Railway, and the Lackawan- na Steel Company. He is also interested in various other industrial and financial institu- tions.

Nor are his activities restricted to mater- ialities. Holding to high ideals, he has ever zealously labored for those interests which con- duce to cleanliness of personal life and civic

integrity and decency. A firm friend of the Young Men's Christian Association, he has served for many years upon its board of trus- tees, was its president in 1873-74, and for. a number of years its corresponding secretary. An inscription upon the outer walls of the gym- nasium proves his interest in the work and his characteristic modesty in proclaiming it. He is also interested in many of the charitable institutions of the city. He is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association state com- mittee, National Municipal League and kin- dred societies. He was one of the eight mem- bers of the First Presbyterian Church of Scran- ton, who originally pledged themselves to the organization of the Second Church, of which he was for several years a trustee; he is now an elder in the Green Ridge Church. For five years he was a member of the noted "Com- pany D," and was one of the organizers of the Thirteenth Regiment, National Guard of Penn- sylvania, to which that company belonged. He is a member of the Scranton Club, the Country Club, the Engineers' Club, and the New England Society.

During recent years it has been as a fore- most member of the Municipal League of Scranton that Mr. Sturges has made his in- fluence chiefly felt locally. Even in these days of great reform movements, the campaign led by Mr. Sturges, covering more than five years of incessant labor, stands out as unique, if not unprecedented. Several years ago, feeling that Scranton had drifted far away from the con- dition of an ideal and law-abiding city, he brought together a number of representative Scranton citizens of standing and influence. The result was the organization of a Munici- pal League for the purification of social, moral and political conditions in the city. There was urgent necessity for remedial agencies. Many public offices were held by men notoriously inefficient, if not absolutely corrupt : graft and dishonesty permeated nearly every department of the city government ; gambling houses stood defiantly open ; houses of ill-fame enjoyed a tacit protection which was actual immunity ; brazen-faced women openly solicited on the streets ; slot-machines operating such gambling games as faro and three card monte were in operation at almost every corner ; hundreds of "speakeasies" were without molestation ; bribery was practiced at the polls, in councils : the moral tone of the city was notoriously bad. and young men in great numbers were falling into the pitfalls set for them almost everywhere.

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Determined to strike at the fountain head- the jury system and city councils-they pro- cured from New York a number of detectives who found little difficulty in obtaining incrim- inating evidence against nineteen councilmen. They were prosecuted, and only escaped con- dign punishment by resigning their offices, signing an agreement not to aspire to public office for a period of five years, and each paying to the Muncipal League the sum of two hun- dred dollars. This fund was by the League turned over to certain deserving charities. During this crusade, (which involved incessant labor, considerable expense, and no little per- sonal danger on the part of the efficient agent, Robert Wilson, within a year an entire change had taken place in the general morals of the city. More than two hundred and fifty cases of Sunday and other illegal liquor selling were prosecuted, resulting in many convictions, and practically ridding the city of this form of vio- lation of law. Gambling of every description was broken up ; the number of dram shops was reduced to a minimum, and those conducted with all the orderliness possible.

When, during the investigations which re- sulted in these praiseworthy achievements, Mr. Sturges came to realize, among other evils, the inefficient if not corrupt system of select- ing jurymen, he resolved to correct as far as possible that fundamental defect in our court system. He announced himself as a candidate for jury commissioner, was overwhelmingly elected and performed the duties of the office during his term of three years. The improve- ment in the character of the jurymen developed during his term of service was most marked. Men charged with the most important business interests gave up their time willingly and served as jurymen in both civil and criminal trials. The improvement thus begun has con- tiued to the present time. The League has also closed all houses of ill-fame, and driven the greater number of their inmates away. As a result of the work of the League, the city of Scranton has been elevated from a low plane of morality, comparable only to that of some of the frontier towns of a quarter of a century ago, to undisputed rank among the very best conducted Eastern cities, in point of all that makes for salutary social conditions. A cir- ciinstance connected with the crusade against Sunday liquor sellers has been noted by out- side newspapers as being especially remark- able. A number of licensed liquor dealers

(some of whom had undoubtedly been guilty of offences against the Sunday laws), joined in raising a fund of $5000 to be used by the League in prosecuting future violators. As the League refused to touch the money except as from time to time required for the above purpose, the fund was placed in the hands of Hon. E. N. Willard and Mr. Sturges, to be paid over as needed.

This civic contest for better conditions was the third in which Mr. Sturges has been the leader since he came to Scranton in 1869. For conspicuous public service in earlier years, and along similar lines, the citizens of Scran- ton, in 1877, presented him with a handsome silver service. The subject of this sketch has found time, notwithstanding his active life, to inform himself as to conditions in other countries. He has twice gone around the world, paving especial attention to missionary and kindred work, in which he has always been greatly interested. He is a member of both the Palestine and the Egyptian Exploration So- cieties, having visited those countries several times. and is a close student of all that con- cerns the rapidly changing conditions in the Orient.

Mr. Sturges married Miss Marion Sander- son, a daughter of Hon. George Sanderson, and of this union were born three children: Clar- ence; George, who married Miss Helen Saxe, of Scranton ; and Nanna, who resides at home. The sons are associated with their father in business.

WILLIAM T. SMITH. Seldom in a life- time does an individual raise to himself, with- out ambition, and as a result solely of high moral purpose, such splendid monuments in perfection of personal character and works of enduring benefit to his fellow-men, as were left by William Tallman Smith, and his mem- ory is one of the most ennobling possessions of the city benefited by his presence and effort. He inherited the sturdy virtues of a New Eng- land ancestry, and shaped his career after the loftiest models. In Scranton he laid the foun- dations of his fortune, and it was the field of his great usefulness. Displaying all the abili- ties of the thoroughly equipped master of ex- tensive affairs, he won large and well deserved success. Amid all the labors and perplexities and triumphs of an active business life, he avoided the almost inevitable error of losing himself in it. On the contrary, he ever culti-

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vated those graces of heart and mind whichi broaden the mental view and strengthen the moral fibre. and find expression in love for literature and art, and the real refinements of society. He held himself upon even a higher plane. He kept his heart warm toward all humanity, bestowing upon all about him the benedictions of sympathy and thoughtful con- sideration. His life abounded in gentle words and kindly deeds, while his broad philanthropy was marked by generous and continued bene- factions to every class of institution which seeks to ameliorate the condition of the afflicted and distressed. His death was deeply de- plored, all classes of the community mourning his loss as that of a personal friend, and the general grief was touchingly expressed by the various bodies with which the lamented de- ceased had been associated, and the numerous charities to which his aid had been ever gener- ously extended.

Mr. Smith was born in Middlebury, Ver- mont. November 30, 1834, a son of Ruel and Judith N. (Haskell) Smith. Both parents were natives of Massachusetts, descendants of Eng- lish ancestors who came to America as early as 1632. In his young manhood the father went to Vermont, where he engaged in a mer- cantile business. In 1840 he removed to Rhode Island, where he died in 1860. His widow, a woman of unusual intellect and strength of character, and whose traits were transmitted to the son, died five years later.

Mr. Smith received a thorough practical education in the common schools. In early life he entered upon his active career as a clerk in a general store at Woonsocket, Rhode Ist- and, conducted by his brother. In 1857 he re- moved to Providence, where he was engaged in business for three years, leaving there to take charge of the quarries of the Harris Lime Rock Company, in Rhode Island. Early in 1862, the second year of the civil war period, his patriot- ism moved him to offer his services to his country, and he secured a temporary release from his duties to admit of his entering the military service. Enlisting in the Ninth Regi- ment Rhode Island Volunteers, he served a term of three months in the defense of the national capital, then jeopardized by the rebel army. He discharged his every duty with alacrity and fidelity, and was honorably mus- tered out of service, returning home, and resuming his connection with the quarries. While thus engaged he was elected to the

state legislature, in which he served for one term, with satisfaction to his constituents and credit to himself. In the latter part of 1865 he visited Texas, with a view to locating there, but after some months determined to return home. Shortly afterward he was appointed secretary and treasurer of two silver mining companies in Nevada, and spent three years in that region in the interests of those corpora- tions. He then went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained nearly a year, but without making any permanent business arrangement.

Mr. Smith first became identified with the city of Scranton in 1870, when he accepted the proffered superintendency of the Mount Pleas- ant Coal Company, a Boston (Massachusetts) corporation having leasehold rights in mines in Scranton. Locating in Scranton he assumed full charge of the company's properties. and conducted its business until 1877. Mr. Smith later leased the mines in perpetuity, and oper- ated them during the remainder of his life, and became widely known as one of the most ex- tensive coal operators in the Lackawanna Val- ley. He became president of the Meredith Run Coal Company, and was largely interested in the Sterrick Creek Coal Company. He was also actively identified with various other in- dustrial corporations of importatice-the Scranton Forging Company, the Lackawanna Lumber Company, the Scranton Packing Com- pany, the Lackawanna Mills. and others of lesser note. He was likewise a foremost figure in various large financial enterprises. In 1872 he became a stockholder in the Third National Bank of Scranton. and in 1883 was elected a director. a position which he occupied until his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Lackawanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company in May, 1887. was its first president, and was contin- ued as such throughout his life. He gave as dili- gent attention to his duties in connection with these institutions as he did to his personal af- fairs. and his fidelity and wisdom in all per- taining to their operations and conduct was relied upon with implicit confidence. His prominence in industrial and financial affairs and his great ability were recognized in the es- teem in which he was held by his associates in the Scranton board of trade. of which body he was elected president in 1888, and he was twice re-elected, finally declining further ser- vice. In 1886. as president of the board of health, he rendered useful service in aiding in the remedying of many evils, and in effecting

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the prevention of many violations of the sani- tary laws.

While attention to all these varied interests would seemingly fully tax the energies of any one man, Mr. Smith gave unsparingly of his effort, as well as of his means, not only to the advancement of community interests along all material lines, but was ever foremost in all philanthropic and charitable work. His devo- tion to the Lackawanna Hospital (in which he was a director for many years) and his un- failing liberality in its support, were so deeply appreciated that the authorities of that insti- tution, on the occasion of his death, issued a handsomely bound memorial volume in recog- nition of his services. He extended substantial aid also to Hahnemann Hospital. He took an almost pathetic interest in the Home for the Friendless, and in ministering to its wards- "the pitiful woman, and the children of the needy." He was for many years the treasurer of the Associated Charities of Scranton, and that body, in its action with reference to his death. bore fervent testimony to "his unbounded charity as of the highest type," and to "his unselfish efforts in the alleviation of human distress wherever found." With lofty concep- tions of education, he bestowed his most care- ful attention in this field to one of the most beneficent institutions ever brought into exis- tence-the Oral School for the Deaf. He was one of its founders, his interest in its work be- ginning with the inception of the scheme for teaching the deaf by oral methods, and he was most efficiently identified with the effort to establish the school in Scranton. He ever stood with its most generous and self-sacri- ficing patrons, equally ready with his counsel, his personal service and his means, for the blessing of the unfortunate class for which it was founded. After his death the board of directors pronounced him as "necessary to the sticcess of the work," and they honored the institution and themselves by placing in its hall the portrait of their beloved associate and "a worthy founder." Mr. Smith ever took a warm interest in the Scranton Public Library, and served efficiently in the station of vice-presi- dent from the organization of the board of trustees to the time of his death. He was an ardent admirer of Mr. Albright, the donor of the library edifice, and provided the handsome portrait of that gentleman which adorns the principal library room.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 24

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