USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 41
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 41
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Jonathan A. Atherton, son of Jonathan, Jr., and Huldah (Chamberlain) Atherton, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, April 19, 1810. He attended the primitive schools of that day, and when fourteen years old became a shoemaker's apprentice, served as such for five years, and later traveled as a journeyman. While in Brattleboro, Vermont. he married Ellen S. Bennett, a native of that place, a descendant of an old Connecticut family. In 1835. with his wife and two children (John R. and Henry F.) he came to Pennsylva-
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nia, making the journey from Brattleboro in a one-horse covered wagon, and located at West Troy (now Wyoming) where his brother Ralph had previously settled. In 1838 he removed to Hyde Park and worked at his trade until 1846, when he bought coal lands in the Keiser Valley. This he sold in 1855, when he purchased a fine farm in South Bridgewater township, Susque- hanna county, which property is yet in possession of his descendants. His wife died there in March, 1861, having borne her husband nine children : one died in infancy; Fred died in Susquehanna county, August 1, 1873, aged twenty-six years ; and the eldest, John R., died in Hyde Park in 1851. The others were: Henry F., born in Bernardston, Massachusetts, July 30, 1834 ; Jerre, to be referred to hereafter ; Rosella, wife of Hon. T. H. B. Lewis, of Wilkes-Barre, a lawyer and ex-member of the legislature ; Bick- nell B .; Florence, who became the wife of David Sherer ; and Sophia, wife of H. T. Lake, of Bing- hamton, New York.
Jerre Atherton, son of Jonathan A. and Ellen S. (Bennett) Atherton, was born in 1836 in what is now Wyoming, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. He was two years old when his parents removed to Hyde Park, where he received his education in the common schools. At the age of nineteen years (in 1855) he located in Susquehanna coun- ty, where he engaged in making fine carriages, calling to his aid the best mechanics of the day. In 1857 he removed to Montrose, and was there engaged in business until 1863. In the latter year, the turning point of the great Civil war, he responded to the call of Governor Andrew G. Curtin for emergency troops to repel the rebel invasion, and served from June 16 until July 27, having previously performed military duty as a member of the Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Militia. In November, 1864, he located in Scranton, and entered the employ of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and his record in connection with that corporation was one of steady advancement, testifying at once to. his ability and fidelity. After serving for some time as general coal inspector, in 1866 he was made superintendent of the Grassy Island mines at Oliphant, which he opened and operated for two years, and then became superintendent of the Leggett's Creek mines. In 1882 he took a simi- lar position in connection with the Marvine mines. In the same year he was placed in charge of the Manville mines, under the Delaware & Hudson and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western com- panies, and served in that capacity for ten years,
relinquishing his post in 1892 to become assistant outside superintendent of the Delaware & Hud- son Canal Company under Superintendent A. H. Vandling, and holding the position until the re- tirement of that gentleman, January 1, 1897. Mr. Atherton is an exemplary member of the Presby- terian church, and is a Republican in politics. He is affiliated with Hiram Lodge, No. 261, F. and A. M., and is a member of the New England So- ciety. At Montrose, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1857, Mr. Atherton married Miss Clara L. Bul- lard, daughter of Hezekiah and Matilda (Dean) Bullard. Her father was born in West North- ampton, Massachusetts, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and became a pioneer settler in Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of eighty years ; his wife came from a repre- sentative New England family. Mrs. Atherton died August 12, 1871, leaving a son, Captain Dolph B. Atherton. Mr. Atherton subsequently married, in Scranton, Mrs. Nellie M. (Frost) Blair, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and who was reared and educated in that city and in Springfield, same state. Her parents were Sam- uel and Dolly (Green) Frost. Her father was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was a successful carriage manufacturer in Springfield ; his wife was a native of Peperell, Massachusetts.
Dolph B. Atherton, only child of Jerre and Clara L. (Bullard) Atherton, was seven years of age when his parents removed to Scranton, with which city he has been uninterruptedly iden- tified to the present time. Until he was eleven years old he attended the public schools, and was then for a year a student in Wyoming Seminary at Kingston. He entered upon a self-supporting career at the early age of thirteen, as weigher and coal inspector for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. On attaining his majority, in 1881, he left that company to become bookkeeper with Ambrose L. Spencer, in the Green Ridge Iron Works. He served so acceptably that after five years in that position he was advanced to the re- sponsible post of general manager, and rendered efficient service as such until 1894, when on ac- count of other pressing business demands he re- signed.
On retiring from the service of the Green Ridge Iron Works, Captain Atherton entered upon the duties of secretary of the board of trade, a position in which he made a brilliant record. infusing into the body new life, and leading it into new fields of usefulness. During his incum- bency of the office the board performed much of its most efficient service in procuring the estab-
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lishment of various industrial and commercial en- terprises which became important factors in the business life of the community, as well as in lead- ing to the inception of public improvements which were greatly to the advantage of the city along the lines of utility, beauty and improved sanitary conditions. One of the large works ac- complished during his secretaryship was the erec- tion of the present board of trade building, one of the finest edifices of its class in the state, by the Board of Trade Real Estate Company, which he aided in organizing, and of which he was sec-' retary and treasurer for a period of five years. In all the projects undertaken by the board of trade, Captain Atherton was a foremost actor, contributing largely to their success through his wise forethought, energy and personal influence. On resigning from the secretaryship in April. 1902, the board, desirous of retaining his interest and service, elected him to the vice-presidency, which position he has occupied to the present time. His retirement from the more laborious duties of the secretaryship was due to his being called upon to take charge of the bond department of the Title Guaranty and Trust Company, and to also serve as secretary of the corporation, which two-fold position he continues to occupy, bringing to his duties abilities of the highest practical order. He is also identified with numerous financial and in- dustrial enterprises, and is numbered among the most efficient of the city's many busy and capable men of large affairs. An earnest advocate of the public school system, he was for four years a member of the board of school control, and for one year its president. He has taken high rank in the Masonic fraternity, being past master of Hiram Lodge, No. 261, Free and Accepted Ma- sons ; a member of the Scottish Rite bodies, thirty-second degree, and of Irem Temple, No- bles of the Mystic Shrine, of Wilkes-Barre. He is a member of the Scranton Club, the Country Club, and the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion of Scranton, in which he is a trustee. He is a director, secretary and treasurer of the Wash- ington (North Carolina) Water Company.
Captain Atherton acquired his military title through honorable and useful service in time of war. At the outbreak of the war with Spain he enlisted in the Eleventh Regiment, National Guard, Pennsylvania, under Col. L. A. Watres. Captain Atherton was commissioned adjutant, with the rank of first lieutenant, and served in that capacity until the regiment was disbanded at the close of the war, and also rendered efficient service as secretary and treasurer of the Soldiers'
Relief Association, which was formed to care- for the families of soldiers at the front, many of whom were in almost destitute circumstances. Captain Atherton's duties in this emergency were- of a most arduous nature, entailing great labor- and involving weighty responsibilities, but he ac- quitted himself so creditably as to win the en- tire approval of the patrons of the great fund, as well as the gratitude of their beneficiaries. At the reorganization of the Thirteenth Regi- ment, under Col. L. A. Watres, Captain Ather- ton was commissioned adjutant, with the rank of captain, and served until September 25, 1904. when both the officers named resigned, the pe- riod for which they were commissioned having expired. From September 22 to November I, 1902, a period of forty days, Captain Atherton performed service with his regiment during the coal miners' disturbances, being with the head- quarters of his regiment at Olyphant, this tour of duty being at once irksome, responsible and particularly dangerous. He acquitted himself throughout with the courage and discretion which characterized the ideal soldier, and received warm commendation from his superiors. He is well regarded in military circles for his service and ability ; is popular in the social circles of his home city, and by the local business community is cher- ished for his loyalty to its interests and his zeal in the advancement of its manifold interests.
Captain Atherton married, October 21, 1881, Miss Melinda Griffin, daughter of Elisha H. Griffin, one of the honored pioneers of Scranton. To Captain and Mrs. Atherton was born a son, Ralph Nelson, February 23, 1883. He was edu- cated in the public schools and the University of Pennsylvania.
JOHN SCHEUER, SR. We are pleased to incorporate in this publication a brief review of the career of this venerable and honored citizen and pioneer business man of Scranton, where he- took up his abode more than half a century ago as an immigrant from Germany and one with practically no resources save those represented in his intelligence, energy and integrity of purpose. From the most modest of beginnings he rose to a position of prominence and influence in the local business circles, and while he is now living retired from active industrial associations is well known to the leading citizens of Scranton and is held in the highest esteem as a citizen and as one who contributed his quota to the industrial advancement of the city in which he has so long maintained his home.
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Mr. Scheuer was born in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, June 9, 1829, and was there reared and educated, while he there learned the trade of linen weaving in his youth. He was ·one of those ardent young spirits who took part in the revolution of 1848, and as a result he found it expedient to leave the fatherland and seek his fortunes in America, of whose institutions and -constitutional principles he had been a deep ad- mirer long before this. He arrived in New York city September 20, 1849, and, in company with five other immigrants, made his way on foot to Dunmore, Pennsylvania, thence to Pittston and from there back to Slocum Hollow, as Scranton was then known. Here he secured employment with the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. In 1860 he engaged in the dairy business, owning and operating the first milk wagon in Scranton. At the time of the Civil war he manifested his loyalty to his adopted country by tendering his services in defense of the Union, but was re- jected when he essayed enlistment. In the early '60's Mr. Scheuer opened a small grocery store on Willow street, above Cedar street, and there he succeeded in building up a profitable business, having a large and well equipped establishment at the time of his withdrawal, in 1874, when he associated himself with his sons, George, John, Henry and Philip, in the establishing of a bak- ery in the operation of which he continued to be actively concerned until 1894, since which year he has lived practically retired, having accumu- lated a competency during the long years of his identification with the business interests of Scranton. When he opened his bakery he based his operations upon a stock of two barrels of flour, and the significance of the change which the years have brought is well indicated in the state- ment that his sons, who succeeded him in the business, now utilize fifty barrels of flour a day in their bakery, while they give employment to a corps of fifty hands.
The extensive enterprise of which Mr. Scheuer was the founder is now represented in a large and well equipped establishment on Brook street, between Cedar and Remington streets, the building being eighty by one hundred feet in di- mensions, with two stories and basement, and substantially constructed of brick and stone. The ovens and all other equipments are of the highest modern type, and the trade controlled is widely extended and of large volume. The bakery was started on a small scale, in 1874, and ten years later the manufacturing of crackers was added to the other departments of the enterprise. To-day
the products of the establishment are shipped throughout the Wyoming and Lackawanna val- leys, four capable salesmen representing the con- cern in the territory thus covered. The firm owns a farm of sixty-eight acres, and on the same they have a fine herd of the best Jersey cows, produc- ing from seventy-five to one hundred quarts of milk per day, while much of the same is utilized in supplying a select trade in Scranton. Of the bakery it may be said that it is the largest of the kind in this section of the state, while its products have the highest reputation for superi- ority. In 1889 the firm name became Scheuer Brothers, and later the title of Pennsylvania Baking Company was adopted upon the admis- sion of two new members to the firm, William,
the son of John, Jr., and George C., the son of George. The business is incorporated under the title of Pennsylvania Baking Company, and the official and executive corps is as follows : George Scheuer, president: Henry Scheuer, vice-presi- dent : John Scheuer, Jr., secretary and manager ; and Philip Scheuer, assistant manager.
Reverting to the immediate subject of this sketch we may state that in his political alle- giance he has ever accorded a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, while he is a consistent and devoted member of the German Presbyterian Church, as was also his cherished and faithful wife.
January 16, 1855, was solemnized by Rev. Herman Veith of Jeffersonville, Sullivan county, New York, their former pastor, the marriage of Mr. Scheuer to Petronella Hoffman, who was born in the historic old city of Worms, Hesse- Darmstadt, Germany, and she proved a loyal and devoted wife and helpmeet, the loving compan- ionship remaining unbroken for forty years, at the expiration of which the cord was loosed and the wife and mother was summoned to eternal rest, her death occurring May 30, 1895, at which time she was seventy-two years of age. Of the children of this union we enter the following brief record giving the names with respective years of birth: George, 1855: John, Jr., 1858; Henry, 1861 : Philip, 1864: Peter and Simon, both deceased in childhood ; Kate, 1871 ; and an infant who died unnamed. George Scheuer mar- ried Mary Reidenbach and of their three children two are living: George C. and Caroline. John, Jr., married Anna M. Lynn and they have six children, William, Annie, Dorothea, John C., Ruth and Verna. Philip married Kate Neuls. Kate, the only daughter of our subject, is the widow of Peter Schillat, and of her five children
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three are living. Philip, Peter P. and Martha E. Henry Scheuer remains a bachelor. John Jr., is a prominent figure in the local ranks of the Re- publican party, and has served his district as a member of the legislature of the state.
CHARLES KIEFER. No better illustration of the characteristic energy, enterprise and prob- ity of the typical German-American could be asked than that afforded by the career of this venerable and honored citizen of Scranton, Lack- awanna county, where he is now living retired, after having been actively identified with local business interests for more than half a century, so that he may consistently be designated a pioneer of the city. It may further be said that he has ever commanded unqualified esteem and confi- dence in the community in which he has so long lived and labored, while he has attained suc- cess through his well directed efforts and is thus enabled to pass the golden evening of his life in peace and comfort, unvexed by the cares which harass the improvident.
Mr. Kiefer is a native of the great empire of Germany, and is a representative of one of the old and honored families of the province of Baden, Germany, where he was born April 15. 1827, being a son of Dennis and Mary Kiefer. He was reared to maturity in the fatherland, in whose excellent schools he secured his educational discipline, and was a young man of twenty years when he immigrated to America in company with his parents and his brothers, Michael and Chris- tian. In August, 1847, the family disembarked in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and one year later they removed to Honesdale, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where the honored parents passed the remainder of their lives, the father attaining the age of seventy-seven years, while the mother passed away in 1854, at the age of sixty-nine years. Of their children our subject is the only one surviving.
In the early years of his residence in Hones- dale Charles Kiefer found employment in the lumber woods of that locality. Later he pur- chased a farm, to whose operation he gave his attention about two years, at the expiration of which he disposed of the property and in Feb- ruary, 1854, came to Scranton, which was then a small village. Here he has ever since main- tained his home and he has proven himself a worthy, useful and loyal citizen, well deserving of the high esteem in which he is uniformly held in the community. On March 18. 1864, Mr. Kiefer here engaged in the teaming and draying
business, giving his attention to general work in the line, including the transferring of freight, etc. At the outset he had but one team and per- sonally took charge of the work which he se -- cured, and he continued to be actively engaged in this line of enterprise for the long period of forty years, building up a large business and ac- cumulating a valuable property, having made ju- dicious investments in local realty from time to. time as his financial resources justified, and hav- ing erected five substantial dwellings, besides. owning a number of vacant lots, whose value is. increasing with the growth of the city. He re- tired from active business in 1900, since which. year the enterprise has been successfully carried forward by his sons John and Henry, who suc- ceeded him and who are numbered among the progressive business men and public-spirited cit- izens of Scranton, where their entire lives have been passed. He is a stanch Democrat in his- political proclivities, fraternally is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while. his religious faith is that of the Lutheran Church, of which his devoted wife was likewise a zealous member.
In the year 1865 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kiefer to Miss Barbara Kaufman, who likewise was born in Germany, whence she came. to America with her parents. She proved a de -- voted wife and mother and remained as the loved and faithful companion of her husband until the- "silver cord was loosed and the golden bowl broken," when she was summoned into the life eternal on August 25. 1900, at the age of sixty- eight years. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kiefer we enter the following brief record in conclusion of this brief tribute: Margaret is the widow of Henry Hessinger and resides in Scranton, Pennsylvania, being the mother of three. children, William. Frank, and Edward. Mary A. is the wife of Fred Nye, of Scranton, Penn- sylvania, and they have two children, Frederick and Carl; William died in childhood : Charles, Jr., married Miss Kate Miller, and he died in
1903, leaving three children, Charles, Margaret and Lena ; John, born in 1867, married Miss Mary Shunk, and of their seven children six are living, namely : Annie, Mamie. Caroline, Matilda, Fred- erick and Mildred ; Henry, born in 1870, married Miss Louise Eberhardt, who was born in the same year. being a daughter of Albert Eber- hardt. a well known resident of Honesdale. Penn- sylvania. John and Henry Kiefer are Democrats in politics, and in a fraternal way are identified with the Patriotic Order Sons of America. They-
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are ably upholding the high business and civic prestige gained by their father, whose successors they are.
JOSEPH B. VAN BERGEN, of Carbon- · dale, deceased, was one who in his life stood con- spicuously in the community as a splendid ex- emplification of noble manhood. He was among the foremost men of affairs in the city, actively identified with numerous commercial and finan- cial interests which were strong factors for the general welfare. With lofty conceptions of the duties of citizenship, he ever exercised his in- fluence in behalf of that which was demanded by the highest standards of conduct both in personal and official life. He served the state and the community in important positions with signal ability and unblemished integrity. In his purely personal character he was an ideal christian gen- tleman.
He descended from a Holland family whose representatives were among the earliest settlers along the Hudson river, in the state of New York. and he inherited all the sturdy traits of character which marked his ancestral stock. His paternal grandfather, William Van Bergen, was born in Catskill, New York, and kept the first hotel in the Catskill Mountains, and was undoubtedly known to Washington Irving when that famous author was weaving his delightful romances concerning that region which he so largely aided to make fa- mous. William Van Bergen adhered to the reli- gion of his forefathers, that of the Dutch Re- formed Church. He had two sons, Henry, and J. Champlain ; the last named was associated with his father in the hotel, and spent his entire life in the Catskill region.
Henry, son of William Van Bergen, was born in Catskill, Greene county, New York, in July, 1805. In his early manhood he was a merchant in Bainbridge, and in 1832 located in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, where he pursued the same occupation, adding to it that of a lumber dealer. In 1836 he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was interested in the lumber trade until 1858. He then went to New York City, and thence to Newark, New Jersey, where he served as sales agent for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company until his death in 1877. He was a man of excellent business ability and strict in- tegrity, and was a ruling elder in the Presbyter- ian Church. He married Emma L. Benjamin, who was born in South Egremont. Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in 1800, and died in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, in 1839. Her brother Joseph was for many years engaged in the foundry and mer-
cantile business in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, and after retiring from active pursuits removed to New York City, where he died, leaving large in- terests in Carbondale and Scranton. Five chil- dren were born to Henry and Emma ( Benjamin) Van Bergen, among whom were Joseph B. Van Bergen and Catherine. After the death of the mother of these children, Henry Van Bergen married again, and of this union were born four children of whom the only one surviving is the wife of General H. Newell, a lumber dealer in New York City.
Joseph Benjamin Van Bergen, son of Henry and Emma (Benjamin) Van Bergen, was born in Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, February 28, 1828. He was afforded an excel- lent education in the schools of Cincinnati and at Marietta (Ohio) College. At the age of eighteen he took employment as a clerk in Laurel, Indiana, where his father had business interests, and was so engaged for four years. In 1850, at the age of twenty-two, he located in Cincinnati, and became associated with Samuel E. Mack in an insurance business. From 1856 to 1858 he was engaged in business in Davenport, Iowa, then returning to Cincinnati to accept a proffered position in the Ohio Valley Bank. January 1, 1860, he came to Carbondale, Pennsylvania, and became a partner in the foundry and machine works of J. Benjamin & Company, and it was out of this modest enterprise that in time grew the great establishment of the Van Bergen Com- pany, Limited. For a period of nearly forty years, ending only with his death, Mr. Van Ber- gen was the principal factor in its management, and to him is due its great development and phen- omenal success as one of the leading manufac- turing enterprises of the Lackawanna region. Nor was this large success attained through any fortuitous circumstances, or conditions which would necessarily produce such a result. There were disadvantages enough to contend with, and serious obstacles to overcome ; indeed, there were times when failure seemed to be impending. But Mr. Van Bergen devoted his energies unsparingly to his labors, bade defiance to discouragement, and with unconquerable resolution and unflag- ging industry prosecuted his plans to successful consummation.
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