USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 34
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 34
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"The activity of Mr. Stark's life was something wonderful. Measured by the length of years, you say that his .life has been cut short in its prime, but meas- ured by what he did. and by what he had grown to be, his death cannot be said to have been premature. He did the work which God gave him to do with his might. and any prolongation of years after that is not living, but a mere existence.
"He will be missed in the profession by the bar and the court : he will be sadly missed in the town in which he lived, and with whose varied interests he was so fully identified : he will be missed in this county by all good inen, and that home which has been so sadly be- reaved, but notwithstanding all this, we cannot but with pleasant emotion bear testimony to the character and
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life of a man, who with humility yet with self-reliance and earnestness, did in his life time all that God gave him to do."
Georgia (Mosier) Stark died in the state of Florida, where she was temporarily residing, July 14, 1896. She was a sincere friend, and an af- fectionate sister and mother, and was beloved by Il who knew her. Conrad Sax Stark and Georgia ( Mosier) Stark are buried in Hollenback cemetery.
John B. Mosier (son) was born in Pittston township, August 9, 1844, on his father's farm which was cleared up in the year 1790 by David Brown, (see Bigsby's "History of Luzerne County," p. 617), who located the cemetery ad- joining the Mosier farm, of which mention is hereafter made, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war. John B. Mosier never mar- ried. He was successful in business, and accum- ulated a large estate. At the time of his death, September 27, 1889. he was a Mason of promi- nence, and a member of St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., Pittston, Pennsylvania : Pittston Chapter. R. A. M., and a Sir Knight of Wyoming Valley Commandery, Knights Templar, Pittston, Penn- sylvania. He is buried in Hollenback cemetery. Frank C. Mosier was born October 8, 1846 (of whom further mention is hereafter made).
James H. Mosier (son) is a resident of West Pittston, Pennsylvania. He was born September 10, 1848. On March 21, 1878, he married Fannie Field. Helene F. Mosier, their daughter, grad- uated at Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania, in the class of 1902, and is one of the youngest mem- bers of Dial Rock Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, West Pittston, Pennsyl- vania.
James H. Mosier is engaged in the real estate and general insurance business. He is a director in the Water Street Bridge Company, and a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and belongs to Wyoming Valley Lodge, F. and A. M., Pittston, Pennsylvania : Pittston Chapter. R. A. M .: Wyo- ming Valley Commandery, K. T., Pittston. Perin- slyvania (of which he is a past eminent com- mander) : Lu Lu Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. (Mystic Shrine), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; and Keystone Consistory, S. P. R. S., 32d degree, Scranton, Pennsylvania. A. A. S. R. F.
Frank C. Mosier's birthplace was in Pittston townshin, on his father's farm. one of the first settled in that township. His boyhood days passed the same as other bovs brought up on a farm, working in the fields, fishing in the moun- tain streams, hunting in the nearby woods, and at- tending district school in the winter. After these
halcyon days came the Civil war, and the rolling of drums, waving of flags, and marching of sol- diers to the front, attracted the attention of the boy who was a good rifle shot, and wanted to try his skill on the rebels. In September, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, Lee with a mighty host came up along the Blue Ridge from the sacred soil of Virginia in solid columns of gray, with bayonets flashing in the autumnal sun, the stars and bars flying, and with martial bands playing "Maryland, my Maryland," he thundered at the Southern gateway of Pennsylvania.
It was then he enlisted in Capt. Joseph Hile- man's company, Nineteenth Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, and went to the front, where, with thousands of patriotic men under Maj .- Gen. John F. Reynolds stood ready to repel the rebel invaders if the Army of the Potomac should meet with defeat upon the soil of Maryland, where was fought the battle of Antietam. one of the most sanguinary in the history of the great Civil war.
Returning home after the Antietam campaign, he worked on the farm and again went to school. and later on accepted a position with the Lack- awanna Iron and Coal Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania. While in that city he was an active member of the Scranton Lyceum, which he helped to organize, and which was composed of such men as Hon. Frederick W. Gunster (now deceased), afterwards a member of the Pennsylvania house of representatives, and additional law judge of Lackawanna county, Col. John Amon Price (now deceased). a gallant solidier of the Civil War, and an orator of great force and ability : Edward B. Sturges, who attained prominence in law, business and municipal reform: Hugh R. Crawford, a veteran soldier, scholar and debater, and Atlantic M. Renshaw, who subsequently was appointed the first recorder of Lackawanna county, Pennsyl- vania. After severing his business relations with the great corporation he had faithfully served he entered Michigan University. He numbers among those of his classmates, Hon. George Gartner, ex-judge of the circuit court of Wayne county, Michigan, and Hon. Rufus Fleming, now United States consul general at Edinburgh, Scot- land. After completing his studies at Ann Arbor he went to Detroit, Michigan, and became a student in the law office of Hon. Fitz William H. Chambers, a distinguished ex-member of the Canadian parliament, and later on judge of the circuit court of Wayne county, Michigan. After being admitted to the Detroit bar he returned east and studied law with Conrad Sax Stark. Esq., and was admitted to the Luzerne bar Feb-
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ruary 26, 1874. and now resides at West Pittston, Pennsylvania, practicing his profession in the common pleas, superior, supreme and United States courts.
Frank C. Mosier, on March 4, 1891, was united in marriage by the Rev. John LaBar to Lydia Ellen Stark, daughter of John Michael Stark and Sarah (Davidson) Stark, of Wyoming.
John Michael Stark was born in Plains town- ship, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1819, and October 16, 1841, was married to Sarah Davidson, a daughter of Morris Davidson and Ann ( Nun) Davidson, who came to Plains town- ship from New Jersey. He came of two sturdy races ; one from the green banks of the Shannon, castellated with the ancient towers of the Mother Country, the other from the vine-clad hills of the Rhine, in the German Fatherland, who landed upon the shores of the new world long before the Revolutionary struggle, and became the pioneers of civilization and builders of Commonwealths. Gen. John Stark, a name famous in the annals of the Revolution, who fought at Bunker Hill. under Washington at Trenton and Princeton, and hero- ically led the Green Mountain boys at Bennington and achieved a glorious victory for the American cause, came of the same English line of ancestry as the Stark family of the Wyoming Valley. (See Hawthorne's "United States," vol. II. pp. 512-17-22-31, etc. ; Bradsby's "History of Luzerne County." p. 357).
John Michael Stark was a man of great firm- ness, iron will, self-reliance and industry. He was a superintendent on the North Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, and also a trusted employe of the Pennsylvania Coal Company for a number of years. ( For portrait of John Michael Stark, see Bradsby's "History of Luzerne Cunty," p. 335). After his retirement from the employ of this company he invested his money in broad acres un- derlaid with coal in the Wyoming and Lack- awanna Valleys, the rich anthracite mining indus- trial center of Pennsylvania, and was the recip- ient of a large income from royalties at the time of his death. The names of the kindred of John Michael Stark (Aaron Stark and Daniel Stark) are inscribed on the Wyoming Battle Monument. (See Bradsby's "History of Luzerne County," p. 121). If there had been a Wyoming drama enacted in his day and generation he surely would have maintained the courage and patriotism of his Revolutionary ancestors, a race of men that will be proudly remembered in history to the end of "Time.
During other wars of the Republic his family
have maintained a record for patriotism which is here worthy of mention. In the conflict with Mexico, which secured a lasting peace and the acquisition of immense territory to the American Union, his brother, George Hiram Stark, served as a sergeant in I. S. K. Ogier's Company H, Fourth Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers, and on July 29, 1846, by order of Gen. Taylor, was hon- orably discharged at Matamoras. On July 30, 1846, he reenlisted and became a non-commis- sioned officer in Capt. A. G. Blanchard's (Phoenix) Company, - Regiment, Louis- iana Volunteers, and by order of Maj .- Gen. Scott was honorably discharged at New Orleans, May 15, 1845. On his soldier's discharge the follow- ing is endorsed: "Said G. H. Stark participated in the storming of Monterey, and also the bom- bardment of Vera Cruz and acquitted himself gallantly in both engagements.'
In the war for the Union his son, George Michael Stark, served in Company M, Second Heavy Artillery, One Hundred and Twelfth Reg- iment. Pennsylvania Volunteers, which fought under Grant, when, in carnage of blood and in fire and flame, the Army of the Potomac was re- lentlessly hurled against Lee until he was sur- rounded, crushed and overwhelmed at Appomat- tox. After a successful business career George Michael Stark died July 27, 1895. on his farm at Dallas, Pennsylvania, and now rests in the historic Forty-Fort cemetery.
Henry W. Stark (brother, now deceased) en- listed in the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Infantry. William S. Stark (brother) enlisted in the Fifty- second Pennsylvania Infantry, and George Hiram Stark. (Mexican war veteran, now deceased), en- listed in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry, and all served their coun- try faithfully. Charles H. Flagg married his sis- ter, Mary Jane Stark, and became captain of Company K., One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment. Pennsylvania Volunteers, made up of Pittston, Pennsylvania men, whom he led into ac- tion at Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. with Meade's division, ( Pennsylvania Reserves) in which Sinclair's. Jackson's and Magilton's bri- gades courageously, in a terrific storm of shot and shell, charged the Confederate intrenchments on the heights of Fredericksburg. defended by Gen. A. P. Hill's division of Stonewall Jackson's Corps .* During Hooker's campaign he was again
* Col. Cyrus K. Campbell. (now of Seattle, Wash- ington) served on the staff of Col. Magilton, and was wounded in the bayonet charge of his regiment, the 142nd. Pennsylvania Vols., which was cut to pieces at Fredericksburg.
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under fire at Chancellorsville, where the Army of the Potomac met with disaster and defeat, after which there followed in the rapid march of events the invasion of Pennsylvania, one of the most perilous epochs in our country's history. Captain Flagg was a Pennsylvanian by adoption, and gal- lantly served as an aide on the staff of Brig .- Gen. Thomas A. Rowley, who commanded the Ist Brigade, 3rd Division, First Army Corps, at Gettysburg. The 142nd Pennsylvania Volunteers fought in Rowley's brigade, and bravely helped to drive the rebel invaders off the soil of Pennsyl- vania. After the clash of steel and thunder of battle was hushed, his body was found on the field and brought home to his young and grief-stricken wife, who caused to be erected in the Hollenback cemetery to the memory of her soldier husband an enduring montiment of granite upon which is inscribed :
"CAPT. CHAS. H. FLAGG"
"KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYS- BURG" "JULY 3, 1863-AGED 29 YEARS." "Sleep, sleep, noble warrior, sleep, The tomb is now thy bed,
Cold is it's bosom, thou dost rest, In silence with the dead."
"We tell thy doom with many tears, How rose thy morning sun,
How quickly, too, alas it set,
Warrior, thy march is done."
John Michael Stark died at his residence in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1896. Sarah (Davidson) Stark, his wife, died at her summer home at Lake Carey, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1898, and both are buried in Hollenback ceme- terv.
The home life of Frank C. Mosier has ever been one of simplicity, hospitality and true do- mestic happiness. He is a member of the Exeter Country Club of West Pittston, Pennsylvania.
One child blessed the union of Frank C. Mosier and Lydia Ellen (Stark) Mosier-Ruth, born April 2, 1893, died December 16, 1901. Within the gates of the Silent City of the Dead, beautiful Hollenback cemetery, little Ruth sleeps remembered and loved by all who knew her. On her tombstone are carved the inspired words : "Heavenly Bells are calling me now," which were found after her death, among her child treasures, written in her own hand.
The Christian religion is the world's most en- during foundation. Upon its eternal rock, is builded Freemasonry, which from the days of King Solomon first began its march over the
highway of centuries, and has kept step with civ- ilization and progress to this distant day. The teachings of this, the greatest fraternal organiza- tion in existence, have been sacredly kept by Washington the Founder, by Mckinley the De- fender, and by Roosevelt, the Protector of Amer- ica's civil and religious liberty.
Frank C. Mosier is a Mason, and belongs to St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., Pittston, Pennsyl- vania ; Pittston Chapter, R. A. M .; Wyoming Valley Commandery, K. T., Pittston (of which he is past eminent commander ) : Irem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. (Mystic Shrine), Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania ; and Keystone Consistory, S. P. R. S. 32d degree, Scranton, Pennsylvania, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, North- ern Masonic Jurisdiction, United States of Amer- ica.
Frequently he is chosen to represent his party in county, state and national conventions. He has always been for sound money, a sound protective tariff, sound statesmanship, and sound Democracy, which he claims are the car- dinal principles of free government as enunci- ated by Thomas Jefferson, the greatest apostle of the Democratic faith.
A number of benevolent acts have been re- corded to his credit during his active life, and one in particular is deserving of mention. Near the. Mosier homestead in Pittston township is an old cemetery, in which repose many of the pioneers of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys. The Browns, Bennetts, Fells, Giddings, Millers, Searles, Tompkinses and others are represented, with many soldiers who served in the armies of the Union during the Civil war, among them be- ing an old comrade, Hon. David Snyder Koon, a member of the Luzerne bar. (See "Luzerne Legal Register," vol. ix, page 88). During the administration of President Polk he was post- master at Providence, Pennsylvania. For two. terms he represented Luzerne county in the Pennsylvania house of representatives, and dur- ing Andrew Johnson's term as chief magistrate he held the important office of deputy reventie. assessor for the United States government. (See "Families of the Wyoming Valley," Kulp, vol. i. p. 58, etc.). In politics he was a Democrat, and held many positions of honor and trust, and now rests in one of the oldest of Luzerne county's burial places.
This graveyard became neglected, and the. fence surrounding it destroyed. It was then that the patriotism and liberality of the subject of this. sketch was shown, for he caused to be erected a
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new fence around this enclosure of the dead, and surrounded it with Rhode Island rhododendrons, which will, even after this deed has been for- gotten, bloom every springtime on the graves of Pittston township's gallant soldier dead, whose names are borne upon the rolls of many of Pennsylvania's fighting regiments, and who bravely fought in the armies of the Republic with comrades who fell at Fredericksburg. Gettys- burg, and upon other bloody fields.
The great interest he has taken in those who upheld the flag of a common country, and sus- tained the government during the War of the Rebellion, has attracted attention, and he has often been called upon to address his old com- rades. Some time ago a prominent member of the bar wrote the following in a letter which was submitted to us :
"I have just finished reading your splendid ora- tion delivered at the Grand Reunion of the 143d Penn- sylvania Volunteers at Mill Hollow, and beg to con- gratulate you upon the interesting manner in which you have collated the mass of historic facts connected with our great Civil war. I would suggest that this address be preserved for future use. It deals so in- timately with the lives and acts of the great Pennsyl- vanians who helped to keep the Union safe, that it should have a place in the history and annals of our State. Why not have it embodied in the sketch of your life about to be published ?"
In response to the above suggestion we take the liberty to quote from the Pittston Gasette, of which the late Hon. Theodore Hart, of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, was editor, the following :
"One of the features of the Grand Reunion held on the old campgound of the 143rd Pennsylvania Vol- unteers (Luzerne regiment) at Mill Hollow, was the address of F. C. Mosier, Esq., of Pittston, Pennsyl- vania. The situation was inspiring. The scenery was sufficient to arouse the most indifferent. The Wyom- ing Monument. Campbell's Ledge, the broad expanse of the river, the brilliant sun- all these lent interest to the occasion, and inspired the speaker to unusual flights of oratory."
Mr. Mosier, upon being introduced by Hon. P. DeLacy of Scranton, Pennsylvania, president of the Regimental Association, spoke as follows:
"Once more you have met on the old campground with your companions in arms. to renew the friend- ship of other days, the memories of which are here revived amid old familiar scenes, and in the presence of a generation born to enjoy the benefits of the great victory achieved hy you and your brave comrades who once trod this ground-many of whom were struck down by your side upon the field of battle, and now sleep beneath southern skies far away from home and kindred. If your gallant legion of the dead could attend this reunion we would behold the brave men who fell at Gettysburg. the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Ann, Bethesda Church. Cold Harbor, Chicka- hominy, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and upon other
bloody fields-their number would add hundreds to this assemblage-but alas! they cannot come back to us-for
"On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead."
"A number of years have passed away since you, pitched your tents within the shade of this mountain, which overlooks the fair Wyoming Valley whose an- nals are written in the blood of your ancestors, and from whose lofty summit many of you can look down upon the homes and hamlets you left more than a quarter of a century ago, to respond to your country's call to arms, which rang out all over this broad land and re-echoed among the hills of old Luzerne, and aroused her heroic sons, who here rallied around their . country's flag, imbued with the patriotic sentiment- 'The union-the grand heritage of our fathers,-it must and shall be preserved.' Your noble patriotism in the darkest epoch of our country's history will never be forgotten, for the memory of your deed, is forever preserved in the archives of our grand old common- wealth, which has always been true to the Union. Among all the states of the Union, Pennsylvania oc- cupies a pre-eminent place, and proud am I today to address those of her brave children, whose heroism. and gallantry have added renown to her history.
With that history is closely allied the glorious achievements of her citizen soldiery in whose ranks were enrolled the gallant One Hundred and Forty- Third Regiment of Infantry, composed of the stalwart sons of Luzerne, whose battle flag at the close of the terrible struggle visibly showed that it had been borne in the front rank of battle, where in storm of shot and shell it was tattered and torn, but never went down, for it had been committed to the care of men who never flinched nor failed to do their duty, when high above the roar and din of battle rang the order,. 'Rally on the colors.'
"Men of Luzerne; amid the smoke and carnage of battle, that command you have often heard and cour- ageously obeyed over the bodies of dead and dying comrades, and saved your flag from falling into the hands of a foe whose bravery won the admiration of the world, although fighting in a cause that was unholy from the beginning to the end; a cause that was unworthy of the gallant lives sacrificed, suffering endured, valor displayed, and herculean efforts made in its behalf, for- its triumph would have destroyed the union, and over- thrown the 'fairest fabric of human government that ever rose to animate the hope of civilized man.'
"Let us briefly review the past, and the glorious record of our own Luzerne Regiment, a small number. of whose battle scarred veterans now only survive, to make a pilgrimage to the spot where, in the long ago, they mustered in the pride of youth and vigor of man- hood, more than one thousand strong, who came here in the days of the Civil war-when disunion's dark clouds rolled overhead, and the terrible thunder of bat- tle, heralding death, woe, and mourning to happy north- ern homes, was borne to our ears on every passing breeze.
"Fearlessly, you then confronted a future that was appalling, for horoscopic vision foretold that the terrible fratricidal conflict when raging had just begun. Not- withstanding all this, you willingly left your homes, fire- sides and loved ones to join in the bloody strife-a.
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strife which was to decide the fate of millions of human beings, a strife in which was involved the pers petuity of the union, and the future destiny of the American republic. Your unselfish devotion to country in the most perilous and gloomy hour of national exis- tence, finds a parallel in every heroic age of the past. For sublime examples of heroism we need not go to other lands. Our own is prolific of heroes, for Amer- ica is the cradle of brave men and women.
"Between here and the shimmering waters of the Susquehanna, your Revolutionary forefathers bravely faced British invaders and their savage and blood thirsty allies, and before the sunset of one eventful day their dead, mangled and mutilated bodies lay strewn over yonder plain, and the smoke arising from devastated harvest fields, and the burning homes of Wyoming's heroic defenders, veiled the skies in gloom. Within our view a granite shaft marks the sacred spot where lie their crumbling bones. It records their im- mortal names. The story of their noble heroism and their glorious epitaph. 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,' which was remembered by their descendants, when they struck their tents and marched to join their valiant com- rades, whose camp fires lighted up the hills of Vir- ginia, upon which were encamped Mcclellan's trained battalions, the veterans of the Peninsula, the heroes of South Mountain and of Antietam, who gave you a soldier's welcome to the Army of the Potomac, in all of whose future campaigns you marched, fought, and helped to win an imperishable victory.
"For a number of months after you reached the front, you vigilantly guarded the national capitol, and then in the spring-time ensuing, with Hooker's strong .columns you crossed the Rappahannock in battle array, and participated in the disastrous engagement of Chan- cellorsville, where Jackson's valiant men rolled back Howard's broken battalions upon Sickels, Meade, and Reynolds, whose bayonets stopped the routed and fly- ing men of the Eleventh Corps, and saved Hooker and his army from being driven into the Rappahannock.
"The battle of Chancellorsville, although a victory for the Confederate arms. was a great calamity to the .cause of the South, for Stonewall Jackson, one of her most intrepid soldiers, a captain of captains, who could pray as well as fight, fell on that bloody field.
"Chancellorsville was preceded by the slaughter of Fredericksburg. during which rivulets of Northern blood ran down the slopes of Mary's Heights, and demonstrated in human gore, the solemn fact, that the Army of the Potomac, ever since the day "Little Mac" rode along its lines for the last time, and heard the farewell cry 'Come back to us, Mcclellan,' had been without a leader. If in that sad and mournful hour, the Army of the Potomac, created by the genius of McClellan, a Pennsylvanian, could have had a voice in the selection of a commander, there would have been no Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, to dim the lustre of its glorious achievements.
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