Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 35

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 35
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 35

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"Hooker's inglorious campaign along the banks of the Rappahannock revived the cause of disunion. Its greatest chieftain, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, became inspired with the hope of ultimate success, and believed the supreme hour had come, to strike the decisive blow, one that would de- molish the Union created by his illustrious forefathers, and rear upon its ruins an oligarchy, founded upon human slavery. So he summoned to his victorious standard the veterans of many fields, the flower of Southern troops, who were eager to invade the North,

for they believed their arms invincible, and that they could plant their battle flags upon the banks of the Susquehanna, Schuylkill and Delaware.

"While Lee was marshalling the armed men of the South on the Plains of Culpepper, the Army of the Potomac, defeated, but not dismayed, rested upon its arms, and as soon as the rebel legions started on their Northern march, it pursned the invaders. While the tired columns of the Union Army were hurrying on. under the blazing sun of day and twinkling stars of night, to overtake the foe. General George C. Meade. a gallant son of Pennsylvania, was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac, and upon the soil of his native state, won imperishable renown, and the grati- tude of a grateful people.

"You men of Luzerne, who unflinchingly faced the iron storm and leaden hail of Gettysburg, fought under the famous watchword, 'We have come to stay' in Roy Stone's Brigade, Doubleday's Division of the First Army Corps, commanded by that heroic son of Penn- sylvania, General John F. Reynolds, who at the head of his brave Pennsylvanians was the first to arrive upon the soil of his native state, and the first to fall in its defense. Reynolds was a brave soldier, and his heroic death made his name immortal. His old com- rades in arms in whose midst he fell in battle, have not forgotten him in death, for upon the field of Gettys- burg, they have reared to his memory a bronze statue which will in all future time perpetuate the heroism of an illustrious soldier of a great Commonwealth, whose noble son he truly is. After Reynolds was struck down, Doubleday took command, and all the afternoon of the first day's battle you fought overwhelming num- bers. Charge after charge was savagely made on your lines, during which young Crippen, your gallant color bearer, was slain. His heroic death will never be for- gotten for his surviving comrades will soon erect upon the spot where he fell, a monument which will point out to future generations where one of the bravest of Luzerne's sons gave up his life for his country-the noblest death man can die .*

"Your corps after being engaged for hours in the open field and losing more than one-half its number. stubbornly fighting, fell back with with its face to the foe, and when the sun set in blood at the close of that eventful day, the remnant of Reynold's brave corps stood in line of battle on Cemetery Hill, ready to repel the enemy should it attempt under shade of night to carry with bayonet, the only position held by the Union Troops.

"The desperate fighting of the First Corps, which opened the battle of Gettysburg, checked Lee's advanc- ing columns and enabled the remainder of the Army of the Potomac, which was miles away, to come up and go into position on Cemetery Heights which were saved by Reynolds and the brave men of his corps, to whom this nation owes an everlasting debt of gratitude. During the fearful combat of the succeeding day, you remained in position on Cemetery Hill, which the fierce Louisiana Tigers in the evening twilight at- tempted to carry by storm, and were blown from its top and out of history by the cannon of brave Penn-

* On the battle monument erected upon Gettys- burg field, there is carved in bas-relief. "Color-bearer Sergeant Benjamin H. Crippen, of Providence, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, who fell at Gettysburg. July I, 1863." (See "Pennsylvania at Gettysburg," vol. ii, p. 683).

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sylvania artillerymen commanded by a gallant son of old Luzerne, Colonel Robert Bruce Ricketts.

"On the last day of Gettysburg, the Luzerne Regi- ment stood at the base of Cemetery Ridge in the decimated ranks of the Second Brigade, commanded by your own brave Colonel Edmund L. Dana, the gallant hero of two wars. During the terrific arullery. hre which preceded the charge of Pickett's men, you stood firm, for you were encouraged by the sublime heroism of a courageous son of the old Keystone State, General Winfield Scott Hancock, who rode up and down the battle line while the air was being cut to pieces by the iron missles of death. Hancock is dead. He sleeps upon the soil of his native State, and genera- tion after generation to come will point to his tomb and proudly exclaim, "There rests the Hero of Gettysburg." "After the thunder of battle died away, an ominous stillness pervaded the field. The silence of that ter- rible hour foretold the coming storm, which was soon to rage in awful fury, for less than a mile away direct- ly in front of the Union line, solid columns of men in gray were forming in battle array. Soon that magni- ficent body of troops, with banners unfurled, amid a sea of bayonets which looked like waves of steel, came marching on. All the Union guns from Cemetery Hill to Little Round Top belched forth a death salute, and sent the iron thunder-bolts of war crashing into the ranks of those fearless and courageous men of the South. Undismayed, they closed up the wide lanes made in their lines, and came steadily on. At last they arrived within reach of the musketry fire of the Union line. The men of Luzerne were there, and fired volley after volley into Wilcox's Alabamians .* Nothing could withstand that flame of fire. The charge was repulsed, and back over the bodies of dead and dying comrades, the escaping survivors of Pickett's Division fled, to tell the story of its annihilation upon Pennsylvania soil. Thus it was, and history will ever silently pronounce how the gallant men of old Luzerne saluted with crash- ing volleys the rebel invaders on their arrival and again upon their inglorious departure from the soil of Penn- sylvania.

"The army of Northern Virginia was not de- stroyed at Gettysburg, although many thousands of its number never recrossed the Potomac with Lee's de- cimated battalions, who after nearly two years of des- perate fighting, were compelled to lay down their arms, during which time the Luzerne Regiment was conspicu- ous for its gallantry, in all the terrific battles fought, by the blood crimson columns of Grant, from the Rapi- dan to the James, along whose historic banks many of your brave comrades sleep in unknown graves. No one but God knows where they now repose, and He will guard their patriot slumber until Time shall be no more.

"The battle of Appomattox closed the glorious cam-

* At this point of the speaker's remarks, Capt. P. DeLacy, the president of the Association, interrupted him with the remark that what had just been said was true, but was denied by Col. John B. Bachelder, the historian of the Gettysburg Battle Field Association. The 143d Regiment did fire volleys upon Pickett's divi- sion, and Captain DeLacy asked all those present who fired on that occasion to hold up their right hands, and more than a dozen hands went up, showing directly that Pickett's men received the fire of the men of old Luzerne as the orator had stated.

paigns of the Army of the Potomac, whose invincible arms crashed and conquered the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by one of the greatest generals of ancient or modern times. If the commander of that mighty Confederate host had remained true to the flag he helped carry over the victorious battlefields of Mex- ico and wave in triumph in the halls of the Montezu- mas, had drawn his sword on the side of the Union, his tomb would be at Arlington, which is now the vast sepulchre of acres of patriot dead, thousands of whom were slain upon the battlefields of America's great Civil war.

"The shadow of Arlington's mournful shade, now rests upon a new made grave, in which is entombed the mortal remains of one whose valiant deeds in the war for the preservation of the union, made his name renowned forever-not only in his country's proud his- tory-but in the glorious annals of time. Upon Arling- ton's sacred soil the illustrious soldier sleeps in the midst of his dead troopers, awaiting the call of the Archangel's bugle, which will awaken the Grand Army of the Union from the slumber of death, and then again foremost with that invincible host will appear, the 'Hero of Winchester,' General Philip H. Sheridan.

"With the surrender of all the forces arrayed in arms against the national government, a cruel, wicked, and causeless civil war came to an inglorious end, and the old flag again waved in triumph throughout the length and breadth of the republic, with every star indelibly stamped upon its blue field, and the consti- tution of the union was again the supreme law of the land. There was great rejoicing in the loyal North, East and West over the grand victory won by the brave and patriotic men of America, and when they came marching home, with drums rolling, victorious banners unfurled, covered with the scars of battle and enveloped in glory, a grateful people gave the returning heroes a mighty welcome, for by the aid of the God of battles they had vanquished the foes of the Union and forever extirpated from the land of the free, human slavery, the foulest blot on freedom's name.

"When the sun of peace again lighted up the land, you, the gallant survivors of the One Hundred and Forty-Third Pennsylvania Volunteers, received your last marching orders, and soon you were on your tri- umphal march homeward. The renown you had achieved upon your country's battlefields preceded you. Your patriotic and admiring fellow citizens in the capi- tol of old Luzerne gave you a grand ovation, which was continued along the banks of the Susquehanna to the State capitol, where you proudly gave back to the great Commonwealth that sent you forth, the bullet- riddled battle flag of your Regiment. That flag, stained with the blood of gallant comrades, in years to come, long after you have passed away will in silent eloquence proclaim the noble heroism of Luzerne's valiant sons, who fought, fell and were slain arount it, on many bloody fields.

"Time will soon disband forever the little band of heroes here assembled. Heaven has indeed guarded and lengthened out your lives that you might behold this glorious day, which dawned upon a land, happy, united, prosperous and free, whose people, until the sun shall set to rise no more, will ever revere your sacred memories and eulogize your heroic deeds, for you saved the Union from dismemberment, and helped to firmly establish upon an enduring foundation, the American Republic, the grandest political structure ever reared and dedicated to human freedom.

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

HENRY SAMES. One of the representa- tive business men of the city of Scranton, Lack- awanna county, is Mr. Sames, who has turned through his own efforts the tide of success and attained to prestige of no uncertain order as a progressive business man and loyal citizen. He has been engaged in the grocery and provision business here for the past twenty-two years, while for seventeen years he has also conducted the Maple dairy, representing one of the leading enterprises of the sort in this locality. His grocery business has grown from modest pro- portions to be one of very considerable scope, and the same is true of his dairying enterprise, which he initiated with the handling of ten · quarts of milk daily, while at the present time the daily output of his dairy reaches the notable aggregate of nearly one thousand quarts. He has four wagons on the road and buys his milk directly from the farmers, giving the greatest care to maintaining perfect sanitation and purity in the handling of the product.

Mr. Sames is a native of Germany, born April . 30, 1842, a son of Gottfried and Catherine ( Fier- bach) Sames, the latter of whom died in Ger- many. They had eight children, and five came -to this country, as follows: Margaret, Conrad, Frederick, Kate and Henry. Lizzie lives in Ger- many. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in his native land, where he learned the miller's trade, to which he there continued to give his attention until 1867, when he came to the United States and took up his residence in Scranton. He entered the employ of the Del- aware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Com- pany, and was a faithful and efficient worker in the car shops of the company for the long period of twenty-nine years. He was careful in the conserving of his earnings, and thus was finally · enabled to engage in business for himself, estab- lishing his little grocery in 1882 and his dairy business five years later. His energy has been unabating, and the success which he has achieved stands in evidence of his good management, ster- ling integrity and straightforward business meth- ods. In matters political he is found arrayed as a stanch supporter of the principles of the Re- publican party, and fraternally he is identified with both the lodge and encampment of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a mem- ber and elder of the Presbyterian Church. In the year 1869 Mr. Sames was united in matri- mony to Miss Frances Lewert, who was born in Germany, being a daughter of William C. : and Frances (Stahlhaver) Lewert. Her broth-

ers and sisters were: Louis, George, Apolonia (now Mrs. John Powell) and Mrs. Frances Sames. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Sames, we record that three died in infancy, while those living are Henry C., Charles, John and Kate, the sons being associated with their father in busi- ness. Henry C. was married in 1903 to Miss Mamie Compton. He is a member of the Pa- triotic Order Sons of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Scranton Athletic Club and the Scranton Bugle, Fife and Drum Corps. Charles was married in 1904 to Miss Kate Lanseidel. He also is identified with the Patriotic Order Sons of America and the city drum corps. John and Kate are still members of the home circle.

CAPTAIN EDGAR CHARLES POST, de- ceased, who passed the larger part of his entire life in Scranton, was highly regarded as a citizen and neighbor, and honored for his sterling worth of personal character. He made a remarkable record as a soldier of the Union, serving during the larger part of the great rebellion, and never absent from post of duty during his entire term of service.

Mr. Post was born in Solon, New York, June 30, 1840, a son of Charles and Maria (Barker) Post. The father was born and reared in Con- necticut. Early in life he was a mechanic, mak- ing axes by hand, at Saugerties, New York, be- fore the days of manufacture by machinery, and later was a merchant. He removed to Smith- ville, Chenango county, New York, and later (in 1884) to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a man of ability and enterprise, and took a lead- ing part in the training of militia in his day. He was the father of two children, Louisa, wife of A. N. Harrison, a retired shoe merchant of Scranton ; and Edgar Charles Post.

Edgar Charles Post passed his youth in his native town, where he received his education and engaged in various pursuits to which he devoted himself with unremitting industry. In the first year of the Civil war period he enlisted ( Decem- ber 28, 1861) as a private in Company E, Eighth Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry, and served with conspicuous gallantry until the close of the war, rising through the various grades to the rank of captain. He participated in more than one hundred engagements, ranging from pitched battle to skirmish, without receiving a single wound, in all the time not being absent from a single roll call, or being excused from any duty in consequence of any ailment, a most un-

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usual experience, and one which has no parallel within the knowledge of the writer of this narra- tive, who himself served during the entire war, and is entirely familiar with the annals of that period. While Captain Post, as has been stated, escaped without injury, he has made some hair- breadth escapes, on one occasion having his horse killed under him, a shoulder-strap shot from off his coat, and a ball to pass through his cap. On the instant he mounted another horse and re- mained in his place with his company until the end of the engagement. His service was with the cavalry corps of the Ariny of the Potomac, and included all the stirring campaigns and desperate battles in which it was concerned, principally in Virginia, under the leadership of McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. The roll of engagements in which Captain Post partici- pated included Fredericksburg,Antietam, Beverly Road, Middleburg, Upperville, the desperate three days battle at Gettysburg, Williamsport, Funktown, Falling Water, Jack Sharp, Stevens- burg. Barrett's Ford. Craig's Meeting House, Spottsylvania, Yellow Tavern, Meadow Bridge, Hanover Court House, White Oak Swamp, Mal- vern Hill, Nottaway Court House, Roanoke Sta- tion, Stoney Creek, Ream's Station ; Winchester, under dashing Phil Sheridan; Summit Point, Kearneystown, Port Royal, Town's Brook, Cedar Creek (in October and again in November, 1863) and Lazy Spring. He also participated in all the operations leading to the final movements which resulted in severing the communications of the rebel army and compelling the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House, at which memorable scene Captain Post was also present. With his command he was honorably discharged from service, after the disbandment of the rebel armies, and returned to peaceful avocations.

In 1877 Captain Post located in Scranton, and became identified with the business interests of Hyde Park. He conducted successively a gro- cery store in the co-operative hall building for a number of years, and afterwards erected a build- ing adjoining his residence on Jackson street, where he carried on business for some years. Captain Post was universally esteemed for his manly character and usefulness in the commun- ity. Without unseemly self-assertion he was well content to give faithful discharge to the duties which fall upon the conscientious, self-re- specting but unambitious citizen. He was an ex- emplary member of the Presbyterian Church, to which he afforded a cheerful and liberal support, as he did to its various benevolences. He was held in particularly high regard in Grand Army

circles, and was an habitual benefactor of Ezra Griffin Post, in which he held membership. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. His political affiliations were with the Republican party, to which he was unalterably attached from the day he cast his first presidential vote for the great Lincoln, and he was a charter member of West Side Republican Club.

Captain Post married, January 15, 1867, Miss Margaret Kinnier, daughter of John Kinnier, a farmer of Smithville. Of this marriage was born a daughter, Mrs. Mary Post Dunckle, who sur- vives the husband and father, as does a sister, Mrs. A. M. Harrison. Captain Post died on April 7, 1895, from Addison's disease, and the funeral took place from the Washburn Street Presbyterian Church, followed by interment in Forest Hill cemetery. A man of quiet character, unassuming and undemonstrative he was a model citizen and yet a few who knew him and noted his genial personality would think it possible that one so constituted could bear himself as he did in times of war. But his record speaks for him, and bears evidence to the fact known to the soldier that the man of peaceful disposition and serene mind is he who, when aroused by duty and patriotism, is capable of deeds the most heroic.

DEAN FAMILY. Walter Dean, the pro- genitor of this family in America, was born, ac- cording to Rev. S. Dean, in Chard, England, be- tween the years 1615 and 1620. He took the freeman's oath in Massachusetts, December 4, 1638, and if then twenty-one years of age, as is most probable, he could not have been born later than 1617. He married Eleanor Cogan, of Chard, England. Walter Dean was deputy to the Plymouth court in 1640, and selectman from Taunton from 1679 to 1686, inclusive, and was prominent in town affairs. By trade he was a tanner. His children, residing in Taunton, Mas- sachusetts, were Joseph, Ezra, Benjamin and James, of Stonington, Connecticut. There were probably two other children, but no record is as- certainable concerning them.

(II) James Dean, son of Walter Dean, hav- ing learned the trades of blacksmith and iron- worker at Taunton, afterward resided for a time at Scituate, Massachusetts, where his first two children were probably born. February 26, 1676, the town of Stonington, Connecticut, at a public meeting, voted to donate twenty-four acres of land to James Dean for a home lot and one hun- dred acres of commons to induce him to remove to that place to there follow his trade of black-

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

sinithing, and many of the leading citizens of- fered to contribute sums of money to be repaid in work. A deed from the town of Stonington to James Dean, dated February 16, 1680, is re- corded in the town clerk's office at Stonington in volume two, page one hundred and twenty- four, conveying one hundred acres of land. He began work there in 1676, and became a promi- nent citizen of the town. He continued to fol- low his trade at Stonington until 1689, when he sold out to his son James, and removed to Plain- field with other pioneers, who settled in what was called the Quinnebaug country. There he was elected the first town clerk in 1699. He became . a large landowner at Plainfield and the neighbor- ing town of Voluntown. He died at Plainfield, May 29, 1725, and his wife died April 26, 1726. They had the following children: James, born October 31, 1674; Sarah, September 4, 1676: John, May 15, 1678, married Lydia Thatcher, June 10, 1708: Onecephorus, March 28, 1680, died the same year ; Mary, March 28, 1630, be- came the wife of Thomas Thatcher, of Lebanon, Connecticut ; Francis, September 8, 1682; Will- iam, September 21, 1684, died October 7. 1684; Hannah, baptized April 4, 1686; William, born September 12, 1689; Nathaniel, baptized April 2, 1693, married Joanna Fisher, at Dorchester, Massachusetts, May 17, 1716: Jonathan, bap- tized April 22, 1695, married Sarah Douglass, at New London, Connecticut, January 17. 1716. (III) Jonathan Dean, son of James Dean, probably removed with his father from Stoning- ton to Plainfield in 1698. He became a promi- nent citizen there and owned much land in Plain- field and the neighboring town of Voluntown. He was deputy or a member of the state legis- lature in 1750-51-53. He was a member of the Susquehanna Company, though there is no evi- dence of his ever having visited the Wyoming valley or participated in its settlement. He was married at New London, Connecticut, January 17, 1716, to Sarah Douglass, and their children were: Mary, born January 10, 1717; Ezra, No- vember 18, 1718: Phineas, July 19, 1720, mar- ried Abigail Clark, December 17, 1742: Hannah, March 24, 1722, married Thomas Gallup, Au- gust II, 1748 ; Eliphalet, November 27, 1723, died March 9, 1725; Lemuel, November 15, 1725, married Mary Lawrence, June 26, 1746 ; Tisdale, November 25. 1729; Elizabeth, June 5, 1731, married Micaijah Adams, November 7, 1750 ; and Delight, March 8. 1733.

(IV) Ezra Dean, son of Jonathan Dean, lived to the ripe old age of eighty-eight years,

dying December 14, 1806. Though he had four wives only the name of the last one, Phoebe Wa- terman, can be ascertained with any certainty. He married her April 20, 1774, and she survived him. It is not definitely known which of his four wives was the mother of his children. There is an account of the marriage of one Ezra Dean to Elizabeth Field, a widow, September 13. 1743. by Jabez Bowen, Esquire, in the vital records of Providence county. Rhode Island, but as there were Ezra Deans at Taunton, Massachusetts, no great distance from Providence, there is no means of telling which Ezra this was. July 13, 1759, Ezra Dean and his wife, Rebecca, of East Greenwich, joined in a deed to Henry Tibbitts for four acres of land in East Greenwich. In this deed his occupation is given as that of a blacksmith, the same as his grandfather, James Dean, of Stonington. It is said that one of his wives was from North Kingston, Rhode Island, and it was in her honor that he gave the name of Kingston to the town in the Wyoming valley after the settlement was made at Forty Fort. The town records of North Kingston were badly damaged by fire and many names are illegible, hence, if this marriage was recorded there, the record is lost. His settlement in the Wyoming valley was made in 1769, when he was fifty-one years of age, and he was probably married at Plainfield as early as 1740, since his son Jona- than was born in 1741. The records of the First Congregational Church at Plainfield, kept by the pastor, David Rowland, show that on May I, 1748, Anna, James and Sybil Dean, children of Ezra Dean, were baptized. The name of the wife was not recorded. Ezra Dean was promi- nently connected with the settlement of the Wyo- ming valley. His father was an original stock- holder in the Connecticut-Susquehanna Com- pany. Ezra early bought the right of Barnet Dickson, one of the first proprietors, and his name appears on the list of shareholders record- ed in volume eighteen, Pennsylvania Archives, series two, page five. The date of purchase was recorded at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and the following is an abstract of the deed : "Barnet Dickson, Voluntown, Windham county, Connec- ticut, to Ezra Dean, of East Greenwich, Kent county, Rhode Island, consideration nine pounds. grants and conveys unto said Ezra Dean, his heirs and assigns forever, the one full part, right or share in the Susquehanna purchase, so-called, which whole right, part or share, individual, I, the said Barnet Dickson, purchased as being a partner or member of the body of men of the

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 35

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