Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 4

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 4
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 4

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).

long as he maintains his competency. Every miner is furnished with as many cars as he can load, and not one minute need be lost for want of cars ready for the coal. An idle day is never known in the Oxford mine, and it is the only colliery in the anthracite region where the men work ten hours a day. The pleasant relations be- tween the men and the company have been in- creased by the building of a splendid wash house for the men, which, upon the authority of the mine inspector, has not its equal in the coal fields. This was the idea of Mr. Shepherd and, as is char- acteristic of him, the plan was thoroughly carried out, and is certainly an immense boon. The building is fitted up with five hundred lockers, each man is provided with a key to his locker ; soap and bath towels are also furnished, and a man is constantly in attendance to wait upon the bathers. According to the mine inspector it is the only institution of its kind in the anthracite coal field, and the company has been complimented upon the manner in which it has shown its inter- est in the welfare of the men.

Mr. Shepherd is a director in the Traders' National Bank of Scranton, the Keystone Na- tional Bank, the Taylor Bank, the Pennsylvania Casualty Company, the Spring Brook Water Sup- ply Company, and the Elmhurst and Nay-Aug Falls Boulevard Company. Aside from his busi- ness and financial interests Mr. Shepherd is ac- tively and prominently identified with various in- stitutions. He is vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Scranton, a di- rector of the Lackawanna Bible Society and Wesleyan University, a trustee of Dickinson Col- lege and Wyoming Seminary, and president of the Scranton Oratorical Society. He is a member of Elm Park Methodist Episcopal Church, is a teacher of a large class of young men in the Sun- day school connected therewith, and for eight years was president of the Epworth League of that body. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having reached the commandery of that ancient order. He is also a member of the Penn- sylvania Society, the New England Society, and the Engineers' Club.

When Mr. Shepherd remodeled his handsome

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

home on the corner of Linden street and Monroe avenue, Scranton, a small art gallery was built, the walls of which are now so well filled that an addition to this space is contemplated. Mr. Shepherd, who was always fond of pictures, has during his many foreign trips made a study of much that is best in the old world art. His first visit to Europe was in 1896, and since that time he has gradually been acquiring pictures for his collection until he has fifty of the best selections from the original work of the American and Dutch masters, among which is one of the masterpieces of Josef Israels, and an autograph of the great artist. The gallery is quiet and unassuming enough from the exterior, without a window to break the monotony of the walls. Within, it is the ideal of refined comfort and elegance. There is no ostentatious display. It is lighted from the top. The glorious light of day filters through the ground glass of the ceiling without glare, and in the night the Nernst light comes through the same medium. The floor is covered with a thick, rich rug, divans and chairs are scattered about the rooms, and mahogany cabinets contain the lit- erature of art. There is no doubt but that the collection is one of the best private collections in this part of the country, if not the best, as regards merit, outside of New York and Philadelphia, and there is not one picture in the collection that is not from the brush of a master hand. Entering the gallery, the visitor's attention is immediately attracted by the large picture by H. Harpignies, entitled, "Early Morning," which occupies the place of honor. It is the largest in size in the collection, and is wonderful for its exquisite rich- ness of trees and foliage, while the sunlight effect is most beautiful. This picture was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1893, and stood extremely high in the estimation of art connoisseurs. Of the Dutch masters in the collection, the prominent position is given to Josef Israels, with two pic- tures, "The Little Nurse," and "Waiting for the Fishing Boats." The first is in somber colors, and represents a child reading a lesson from the Bible to her sick grandmother. The character- istics of the simple home are brought out in great detail. Josef Israels, who is the father of the mod-

ern Dutch school, declares this to be one of his favorite and intensely personal canvasses. The second picture shows a girl with her younger sis- ter on her back, as she wades in the water at low- tide, and shows this masterful painter in his high- est quality of outdoor work. Its intense sweet- ness grows upon one as he looks. There are three pictures by Anton Mauve: "Milking Time. Twvi- light." "A Gray Day," and "Winter." Few of the pictures have been available since the death of the artist in 1888. Mr. Shepherd purchased them in Holland in 1904. The first picture shows the cows trudging toward the milking corner, the farmer following, carrying the milk pails. They are in darkness, and just a streak of light over the horizon illuminates the peaceful scene. The other two pictures represent sheep and shepherds on the heath, and is most popular in Europe, copies being seen in many houses. William Maris, the unrivalled Dutch painter of cattle and river scenes, is represented with one picture, "A Summer Day." The realism is so great that one can almost imagine that the water in the scene is actually moving. Jacob Maris, one of the three brothers, is represented by three pictures, "A Holland Town," "Gathering Seaweeds," and "Manon Horse." "The North Sea," by H. W. Mesdag, represents a scene where two boats are being unloaded at low tide. "Saying Grace," by D. A. G. Artz, represents a mother and son seated at a table in a devotional attitude before the even- ing meal; the prayerful attitude is most striking. J. H. Weissenbruch's "Canal in Holland" is the work of one of the most original artists Holland ever produced. The sky and light are splendid achievements. "An Evening Meal," by R. J. Bloomers, is one of the most quaint in the collec- tion, being dainty, soulful, and considered one of the best examples of the artist's work. "A Dutch Home" is the work of J. S. H. Kever. Robert C. Minor is represented by one canvas, "A Summer Day." "Early Morning Twilight" is by D. W. Tryon, and "Winter Glow" by R. A. Blakelok. George Inness is represented by two pictures, "March Breezes," and "Oaks Autumn, Tenafley, New Jersey." This canvas is conceded by the best critics to be one of the great master-

ENDBY CHAS. B. HALL NEW : URI

RGBrooks

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

pieces of American art. William Sartain is rep- resented by two pictures, "Jersey Sand Dunes," and "Chapter From the Koran"; Arthur B. Davies by "The Golden Stream"; Thomas Sully by a portrait of John Tyler ; Shepherd Mount by a portrait of Martin Van Buren ; and J. Francis Murphy is represented by a trio of landscapes, "Early Morning on the Marshes," "Spring Time" and "Sunset." The animal pictures are among the most striking in the splendid array. "Hol- stein Bull," by Carlton Wiggins, is a most strenu- ous production. "The Lions," by Jan Van Es- sen, are marvels of lifelike production, and the cattle in various productions are true to nature. It would be hard to idealize "Contentment" more perfectly than G. Henkes has in his figure of an old man smoking a clay pipe by a blazing fire. Here are also two masterpieces of William Mor- ris Hunt, the "Ophelia" and "Pine Woods," which represent this great teacher of all that was best in art in his highest quality. Both canvases have been sought after by the Metropolitan Mus- eum. And here we see another one of our early men, George Fuller, so nobly represented by "Hoeing Tobacco," which is a canvas of such rare tonal effect that one cannot but think of Millett and the "Angelus." Homer D. Martin has a scene on these walls which any collector of American pictures would covet, "The Sea'at Vil- lerville." What greatness has been developed in this view of the raging sea! The Barbizon school of painters have two pictures of great beauty and show the masters, Corot and Dau- bigny, in all their excellence. Monticelli, the noted colorist, has a rare canvas here, "The Gar- den Party."

It is fortunate for the city of Scranton to have such a fine collection of the works of the best artists. It is doubly fortunate that it is in the possession of such a man as James G. Shepherd, who is a broad man of democratic tastes, who delights in having other people share his pleasure. He is easy of approach and generous in all things. No person who has a real interest in art will have his request for a view of his pictures refused. An interior view of his gallery will accompany this sketch.

REESE G. BROOKS. While Reese G. Brooks cannot boast of long ancestral con- nection with the history of Pennsylvania, he is himself a native son of Scranton and one whose life record demonstrates the business possibilities that the new world affords to its. citizens, for from a humble position in the mines he has steadily advanced by reason of his' efficiency and capability until he is today one of the leading coal operators of the Wyom- ing Valley. Many other business enterprises and public movements have also felt the stim- ulus of his energy and determination, which have proven resultant factors not only in win- ning his personal success but in promoting the general prosperity of this portion of the state and advancing its material improve- ments.

The Brooks family is of English lineage, William Brooks, father of Reese G. Brooks, having been born in Monmouthshire, England, where his father was an agriculturist. In 1842 William Brooks came to America, set- tling in Scranton. His first business connec- tions here was with the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company and later he entered the ser- vice of the Delaware, Lackawanna & West- n Railroad Company. Subsequently he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, making his home upon a farm in Spring Brook township until he retired from active business, life. His last days were passed in Scranton, where he died in 1888. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Powell, was born in Devonock, Wales, near the castle occupied by Adelina Patti, the celebrated singer. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks became the parents of six sons and two daughters, and two of the sons and the daughters are now living, H. J. Brooks, being foreman for the Laflin Coal Company.

The natal day of Reese G. Brooks was December 25, 1846. He was a student in the Hyde Park school of Scranton, and was a youth of sixteen years when General Lee in- vaded Pennsylvania in 1863. He then joined an emergency company raised in this locality and went to Harrisburg, where he was de-

2-2

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

tailed for hospital service, being discharged on the expiration of his three months term. Following his return home Mr. Brooks entered upon his business career as a brakesman on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Rail- road, serving in that capacity until the fall of 1864. He then again entered the army and did duty with a corps in eastern Tennessee, being present at the battles of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. He went from the former place to Cleveland, Tennessee, and on to Dalton and Athens, Georgia, and following the cessation of hostilities in the spring of 1865 he received an honorable discharge and returned home.

It was in the same year that Mr. Brooks became identified with the great department of labor which has since claimed his time, ener- gies and attention. He was for three years employed in the mines of the Mount Pleasant Coal Company, gaining a practical knowledge of the best methods of taking the mineral from the mines and placing it in marketable shape. He next had charge of a shaft for the Lacka- wanna Iron & Steel Company, became general inside foreman and was then promoted to the position of general superintendent of the coal department, in which capacity he served for twenty-five years.

In the meantime Mr. Brooks began oper- ating in coal on his own account, organizing the Greenwood Coal Company in 1884. He has since been its president and has developed the business until a low estimate places the capacity of the mines at fifteen hundred tons per day. In May, 1892, he organized the Langliffe Coal Company with a capacity of seven hundred tons daily, with one breaker and shaft located at Avoca, on the boundary line between Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. He has also been president of this company from its organization, and is like- wise the chief official of the Laflin Coal Com- pany, which was formed in 1894 and operates mines at Laflin, Luzerne county, fourteen miles from Scranton. There are a breaker and shaft with a capacity of one thousand tons per day, and employment is furnished to more than two thousand men. While with the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company Mr. Brooks assisted in the organization of the Bridge Coal Company and acted as president until the business was sold. In more recent years he organized the Lee Coal Company and after placing the business on a successful

basis sold out. He is likewise a member of the firm of McClave, Brooks & Company, manu- facturers of patent grates and blowers; is a director of the Dime and West Side Banks of Scranton; and a member of the Scranton board of trade. His gradual advancement from a minor position in the industrial world to one of controlling prominence as a repre- sentative of the coal trade demonstrates clear- ly the force of his character, his determination, his energy and business sagacity. Moreover, he has made for himself a name that is honored in all business transactions because of the straightforward policy he has ever followed and his close adherence to the strictest com- mercial ethics.

Mr. Brooks was married in Scranton to Miss Mary A. Morgan, a native of Carbon county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of George Morgan, one of the oldest miners en- gaged in Nesquehoning. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks had five children: Margaret, the wife of W. R. McClave; Thomas R., secretary of all the coal companies in which his father is interested: George G., a civil engineer who was graduated from the Wyoming Seminary and from Cornell University ; John H., a grad- uate of Princeton College and assistant secre- tary of the coal companies; and Cora M., the wife of Willard Matthews.

Mrs. Reese G. Brooks, who died March 27, 1905, was a woman of such unusual char- acter that when her death occurred, abso- lutely without warning, it seemed that the en- tire city mourned. So softly had she stepped through life, so silent had been her ministra- tions, so unassuming her manner, that it was not until the news of her untimely death shocked a vast circle of friends that they rea- lized how very much she had meant in their lives. Passionately devoted to her family- and no mother had reason to be prouder of sons and daughters than had she-she found time to be good to a multitude of those who needed her in one capacity or another. The friends of her earlier years before the founda- tions of her present luxury were laid, never were forgotten. Lavishly she gave of herself and her money to aid distress, and there were many whose benedictions followed her to the grave with their tears. Mrs. Brooks had been for many years a manager of the Home for the Friendless, where her judgment, unusual in its judicial balance, was continually sought. When she died, aged inmates of the institu-

ENGD BY CHAS B HALL NEW YORK

Pulaski Carter

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

tion, whose own griefs and misfortunes had been almost too bitter for tears, filled the cor- ridors with their lamentations for the loss of the best friend they had ever known.

In community affairs Mr. Brooks has been active and influential, regarding the duties of citizenship as worthy of his best interests and serving with fidelity in the various positions to which he has been called by his fellow townsmen. For four years he was a member of the board of school control, and for seven years a member of the poor board. He was elected on the Republican ticket to represent the fifth ward in the select council and by popular suffrage was retained in the office of city treasurer of Scranton for seven years. He has served as chairman of the county and city committees at different times, and has put forth strenuous effort toward winning Repub- lican success, believing that the party plat- form contains the best elements of good gov- ernment.

Long years of untiring devotion to busi- ness led Mr. Brooks to desire rest and recrea- tion in 1896, and in June of that year he went abroad with one hundred and fifty members of the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, visiting Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, England, Wales and Ire- land. He traveled about fifteen thousand miles upon the trip, covering three months. He has also traveled extensively in his native land, and much of his recreation comes through his membership with the Wawayanda Club of Long Island, the Scranton Club and the Rod and Reel Forest Club, the last named owning a fine club house and ten thousand acres of land in Wayne county, Pennsylvania.

PULASKI CARTER, deceased, was one of the strongest characters and most useful men of his day. He inherited in marked degree the ster- ling traits of his New England ancestry, and his name was ever a synonym for the strictest in- tegrity and most uncompromising devotion to principle. His family has been from the begin- ning of its history in America, notable for patri- otism and public spirit of the highest quality.

The first Carters of whom we have authentic record in this country are Thomas Carter, black- smith, and Mary his wife. Their names appear upon the church record in Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, in 1636. They were married in Eng- land. Their children were: Thomas, Joseph, Samuel, John, Mary and Hannah. The will of

Thomas Carter, senior, was recorded in 1652. He died possessed of considerable landed property. His wife Mary died in 1664, and her death is thus recorded : "Mary Carter, mother of the Carters in town.'

Joseph Carter, second son of Thomas, was a currier. He married Susanna -, in 1662. He was first of Charlestown, but later lived on the old Bellerica road, Woburn, Massachusetts, with his son, Joseph, junior. He died December 30, 1676. Joseph, junior, lived in Woburn, Mas- sachusetts, married Bethia Pearson, and at his demise in 1692, left three sons and three daugh- ters. His son John, born February 26, 1676, moved to Canterbury, Connecticut, with his wife Mary about 1706. He was the father of John, junior, born in Canterbury, February 24, 1709. John, junior, married Deborah Bundy, and they had nine children. His son Joseph was born July 18, 1736. He married Patience Pellet, October 3, 1762. He served as quartermaster in the Rev- olution, and died August 15, 1796.

Phineas, son of Joseph and Patience ( Pellet) Carter, was born November 23. 1766. He was a landed proprietor of Westminster, Connecticut, and a man of strong character and strict integrity, upright to the point of austerity : a devout Chris- tian of the Congregational faith, rigid in exact- ing observance of religious forms and ceremo- nies ; and strict in his family discipline. He mar- ried Cynthia Butts, a woman of gentle nature and lovable traits of character. She was born March 16, 1773, and came of a family of promi- nence in the public and private colonial life of New England. Her father, Deacon Stephen Butts, of Westminster, Connecticut, born June 15. 1749, was the son of Joseph Butts. born March 17, 1711. The father of Joseph was Sam- uel Butts, who married Sarah Maxfield, July 22, 1701. Samuel Butts was a man of distinction in many respects, and the record of his official serv- ices is preserved in the archives of the state of Connecticut. He was elected thirteen times to the colonial assembly from Canterbury, Connec- ticut, during the period between 1715 and 1729, and was otherwise conspicuous in the community. His father was Richard Butts. He married De- liverance Hoppin, daughter of Thomas and Eliz- abeth Hoppin, who came from England to Dor- chester, Massachusetts, in 1636. Phineas Carter died November 8, 1840, long surviving his wife, who died March 19, 1814.

Pulaski Carter, son of Phineas and Cynthia (Butts) Carter, born in Westminster, Windham county, Connecticut, June 23, 1813, was only

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

nine months old when his mother died. His father desired for him the career of a physician, and was much disappointed when the young man's inclination turned toward mechanics, and he went to Brooklyn, Connecticut, where he learned blacksmithing. On completing his ap- prenticeship he went to Winsted, Connecticut, where he entered the shop of Captain Wheelock Thayer, and there gained a thorough practical knowledge of scythe-making. He first visited Pennsylvania in 1840, at which time he went to Honesdale and several other localities, finally de- ciding to locate in Providence (now the first ward of Scranton). In 1841 he returned there and engaged in scythe-making. In June of the following year, in company with Jerrison White, he purchased the Sager & White Axe factory, and began the manufacture of axes as well as scythes-the first factory of the kind in the state. He shortly afterward acquired his partner's in- terest, and in 1843 associated with himself a boy- hood friend, Henry Harrison Crane. Mr. Crane subsequently disposed of his interest in the busi- ness, but still remained in the works. Mr. Carter then took as partner Artemus Miller, but this partnership was soon dissolved, Mr. Carter as- suming the entire ownership and management of the business.

Meanwhile Mr. Carter had laid the founda- tions of the enterprise which came to be known as "The Capouse Works" (so named after the old Indian chief of the Monseys, from whom also the Capouse Meadows received their name), pur- chasing a thirty-acre tract of land from Henry Heermans, and erecting thereon shops, etc., suffi- cient, to commence business, and here was made the wide reputation of the "Carter axes" which were for many years unrivaled. In 1864 the fac- tory burned down, entailing a most serious loss, the insurance being wholly inadequate to defray the cost of rebuilding. In this hour of his great disaster. Mr. Carter was proffered abundance of financial aid by persons who appreciated his en- terprise and had implicit confidence in his ability and integrity. These evidences of confidence he gratefully declined, and he built and equipped an entirely new and improved factory which for many years was one of the important industries of the valley, and this was accomplished with the preservation of that personal independence and self-reliance of which he was so justly proud. His business career ended only with his death, and he maintained to the last his deep interest and pride in the great enterprise which was the creature of his own brain and hands.

In his relations to the community at large, Mr. Carter bore himself with the same dignity and conscientiousness that characterized the con- duct of his business affairs. Whatever claimed his attention received from him the deepest in- terest and best efforts of which his heart and mind were capable. The parental training had indoctrinated him with the loftiest conceptions of an all-comprehending morality, and, when he first left the paternal roof, he came under influ- ences which intensified his thought along the. same lines. In the first days of his blacksmith apprenticeship, youth as he was, he became ac- quainted with the philosophy of the famous Con- cord and Brook Farm School. This was brought about through the Unitarian minister at Brook -. lyn, Connecticut, the Rev. Samuel J. May (inti- mate friend of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Ralph Waldo Emerson), who al- lowed him free access to his library and aided him in his reading. So impressed was the young- man with the field of thought to which he was thus introduced, that in after years he was able. to repeat from memory entire pages from the vol- umes which he read in those early days, and the. sentiments which he imbibed colored his whole life. A signal exemplification of this was seen in 1847, when the free school idea was first broached. With a heart inspired with the most liberal New England ideas as to education, Mr. Carter, then a young man of thirty-four, threw himself into the struggle with all the intensity of his nature, and traversed the valley back and forth, preaching the gospel of free schools. An earnest and forceful speaker, he produced a deep impression. Nor was he content with this effort ; he followed his appeals with labors of organiza- tion, and, when the question came before the peo -. ple, had his followers so well in hand that a decis- ive victory was won at the polls. Thus was the free school planted in Providence, at a time when Scranton was little more than a name upon the. map. Mr. Carter followed his success with yet more practical effort, donating the land on which was erected the first free school building in the place, and he maintained an undiminished inter- est in educational affairs throughout his life. In 1857 the first graded schoolhouse was built, and in the public celebration of that event Mr. Carter was awarded high praise as the corner-stone upon which the free school cause had been founded. For twenty-eight years he served as director and treasurer of the Providence school board, and this. fact speaks yet more eloquently of his heartfelt interest in the cause which he had so long and

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 4

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