USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 72
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 72
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Dr. Burlington received his early education in his native town, and this was supplemented by a course at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Penn- sylvania. Later he matriculated at the Baltimore Medical College, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1888. For two years following his graduation he practiced medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1890 located in Duryea, Pennsylvania, where he has gained a reputation second to none, and. he is now looked upon as one of the leading physicians of the Wyoming Valley. He keeps in touch with the leading medical thought of the day by membership in the Luzerne County Med- ical Association. He was chosen to serve as first chief burgess of the borough of Duryea, and is now president of the school board, the cause of education finding in him a stanch supporter. He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church, of Nay Ang Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Avoca, and of the Knights of Pythias, of Old Forge. He casts his vote with the Republican party, the principles of which he believes to be for the best interests of govern- ment.
In 1891 Dr. Burlington married Rachel Jones, daughter of John and Mary (Edwards) Jones, of Old Forge, Pennsylvania. One child was the issue of this union, Joseph Burlington, born March 10, 1903.
HENRY LOUIS EDSALL. It is the busi- ness men of a community who determine its financial prosperity. If these are able, enterpris- ing and of strict integrity, the welfare of all classes, from a material standpoint of view, is assured. All who know Henry Louis Edsall, of Duryea, can testify that he belongs to this inval- uable type of citizen. Mr. Edsall is a son of Lewis Edsall, who was born in Pennsylvania, where he followed the calling of a farmer. He married Anna Best, a native of New York state, and their family consisted of three children : William, deceased ; Elizabeth, also deceased ; and Henry L., mentioned at length hereinafter. The death of Mrs. Edsall occurred in 1899, and Mr. Edsall, who has relinquished his agricultural la- bors, is now a resident of Durvea.
Henry Louis Edsall, son of Lewis and Anna ( Best) Edsall, was born in Cambria, Luzerne
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county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1858, where he received a common school education. He re- mained at home until reaching his sixteenth year, when he went to Moosic to accept a position as clerk in a store. This position he retained until he was twenty years old, and then engaged in the grocery business on his own account. He car- ried on a flourishing trade until 1885, when he established his present business in Duryea. The circle of his connections widened to such an ex- tent that in February. 1894, he took as a partner N. P. Clauson, and the business has since been conducted under the firm name of Edsall & Clau- son. Their success, which is substantial and un- questionable, is based no less on fair and honora- ble dealing than on commercial sagacity and acuteness. He belongs to the Masonic Fraternity of Pittston, is a member of Pittston Chapter. No. 242 ; Wyoming Commandery, No. 57; and Irem Temple. Wilkes-Barre. In his political views he is a stanch Republican.
Mr. Edsall married, September 26, 1883, Alice, daughter of Ebenezer and Martha (Shif- fler) Foote, of Duryea. Mr. and Mrs. Edsall are the parents of two children: Muzette and Rena C.
THOMAS P. JONES, of Nanticoke, a con- tractor and builder, who has engaged in active business in that borough since 1886, a period of nineteen years, is a native of South Wales, born May 1, 1853, a son of John and Anna Jones, natives of South Wales, the former named hav- ing died in that country, and the latter living at the present time ( 1905) in Scranton, Pennsylva- nia. Their family consisted of seven children, four of whom-Grace, Ellen, Jane and Thomas P .- came to this country, where they have be- come useful and honored members of society, . true to the interests of their adopted land.
Thomas P. Jones was reared, educated and learned his trade in his native land, and up to the time of his emigration to this country was a contractor, his operations being very exten- sive. In 1886, accompanied by his wife and children, he left his native land for a home in the United States, locating in Nanticoke, Penn- sylvania, where they have since resided and where they are highly respected by their fellow- citizens. During his residence in Nanticoke Mr. Jones has erected some of the finest buildings in the borough, which are noted for their archi- tectural beauty, and which will stand as monu- ments to his skill and ability. He has also added considerably to the beauty of the borough by the numerous houses he has built and sold on
the installment plant to suit the convenience of the poor but honest and industrious element. He also owns the fine house in which he resides, situated on Hanover street, which is also a speci- men of his handiwork. His work extends throughout the Wyoming valley and adjacent boroughs. Mr. Jones differs somewhat from contractors in general, as he takes contracts not only for the woodwork, but for the complete building. He employs a force of about twelve men, all skilled mechanics, and the work is per- formed under his own personal supervision. He has a shop and mill, in which he carries a com- plete line of builders' supplies, paints, hardware, lumber, and the numerous other articles pertain- ing to that trade. Mr. Jones was honored by his fellow-citizens by election to the office of asses- sor of the Eleventh ward, in which capacity he rendered efficient and creditable service. He is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and a member of the Carpenters' Brotherhood.
In 1875, prior to his emigration to the United States, Mr. Jones married Eliza Lewis, daughter of William and Maria Lewis. Eleven children were the issue of this union, of whom nine are living, namely: Anna N., graduate of Nanti- coke high school. also a graduate of Blooms- burg State Normal school, class of 1894; since then she has engaged in teaching, in which line of work she is most successful. John P., a car- penter by trade. William L., a carpenter by trade. Thomas P., Jr., a painter by trade. Jo- seph, a carpenter by trade. Benjamin. David. a tailor by trade. Maggie, a most accomplished singer ; although at the present time (1905) she is only sixteen years of age her voice is well developed, full of sweet, rich melody, the strains of which is both pathetic and touching, and no doubt there is a bright future in store for her. Stanley. The family are attendants at the Welslı Congregational Church, and in the social circles of the borough they occupy a prominent place.
OLIN FRISBIE HARVEY, M. D., of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was born Monday, September 28, 1846, in the village of Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and is the only child of Elisha B. Harvey and his first wife, Phebe Maria Frisbie. He is the great-great- grandson of Benjamin Harvey, James Nisbitt, Robert Jameson and Lieutenant Aaron Gaylord, and the great-great-great-grandson of Capt. Rob- ert Dixson.
He attended various private and public schools in Wilkes-Barre prior to June, 1861, when, at
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the age of fourteen years and nine months, he accompanied his father to Camp Wayne, where he remained until the Seventh Regiment was ordered to Washington, D. C., when he pro- ceeded there with it. He occupied quarters in the regimental camp at Washington, then at Tennallytown, and later at the outpost at Great Falls. In the journal of his father, under date of September 4, 1861, the following is recorded : "Captains Jameson and Speece, my son Olin and I stood on the hill watching the Confederates shelling and cannonading our position. I told Olin to go and stand behind a tree. He left us, and later, when I looked for him, I found him standing by a big tree on the side facing the enemy and in no way frightened." Having for three months experienced various phases of army life, and seen a few of the actualities of war (more of them, in fact, than thousands of "three months men" in the volunteer service of the United States during the war of the Rebellion witnessed), Olin F. Harvey left Camp Sharpe, Tennallytown. September 24. 1861, with his father's brother and others for his home in Wilkes-Bar :: During the following winter and spring he attended the school of A. J. Pringle in Wilkes-Barre, and in August, 1862, became a student at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston. In the succeeding winter he left the seminary and began to study under the direction of his father, and when the latter opened his school, in 1863, bcame a pupil therein. He continued there un- til early in 1865, when he entered the New Haven (Connecticut) College of Business and Finance, where for six months he pursued the regular course of commercial studies. Returning to Wilkes-Barre he became an assistant teacher in his father's school, at the same time continuing his classical and mathematical studies. He en- tered Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, in September, 1867, as a freshman, and in June, 1871, was graduated with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts, and three years later the master's degree was conferred upon him.
In October. 1871, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, as a student in the medical school, and was graduated therefrom March 13, 1873, with the degree of M. D. Seven days thereafter he was married at West Pitts- ton, Pennsylvania, by the Rev. F. B. Hodge, rastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, to Sophia J. (born at West Pitts- ton, September 30, 18.18), fifth child and third daughter of Amos York and Lucinda ( Carpen- ter) Smith. Within a few weeks after their mar-
riage Dr. and Mrs. Harvey went to housekeep- ing in a dwelling (now No. 85) on North Frank- lin street, below Union, and about the Ist of May following Dr. Harvey opened an office in a one-story frame building which stood on the site now occupied by the Harvey buildings, on North Franklin street, above Market. From that time until the present Dr. Harvey has con- tinuously and successfully practiced medicine in Wilkes-Barre. In October, 1872, the Wilkes- Barre City Hospital was opened for the recep- tion of patients, and during the first fifteen months of its existence ninety-eight patients were treated. In 1874 one hundred and three patiente were admitted to the institution, and in 1879 there were admitted two hundred and seventeen -being one obstetrical, one hundred and three surgical and one hundred and thirteen medical cases. In 1898 the number of patients admitted was seven hundred and thirty-seven-comprising fourteen obstetrical, one hundred and sixty-one medical and five hundred and sixty-two surgical cases. Dr. Harvey was appointed in 1874 one of the attending physicians of the hospital, and has been an active member of its staff from that time to the present. Since December. 1893, he has been one of the six chief attending physi- cians, and is now also obstetrician-in-chief. Dur- ing the greater part of the quarter of a century that he has been connected with this institution he has served almost continuously on various important committees, having to do with either the planning and erection of new buildings for the hospital, or the purchase of medical and surgical supplies, etc. In 1889 a training school for nurses was organized in connection with the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital, the managers being the medical staff of the hospital. Dr. Harvey was a member of the first conference committee, and from the beginning has been on the staff of lecturers of the school. Ten classes, comprising sixty trained women nurses, have been gradu- ated from the school. The Wilkes-Barre City Hospital, including its adjunct, the training school for nurses, is now one of the best known, most valuable and useful public institutions in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1898 Mercy Hos- pital was established in Wilkes-Barre to be un- der the care and direction of the Sisters of Mercy connected with the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Convent, Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Harvey was ap- pointed February 28, 1898, a member of the · consulting staff of this hospital, which position he still holds, and upon the organization of the general staff, March 4, 1898, he was elected
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vice-president and a member of the executive committee of the staff.
In 1898, during the first two or three monthis of the Spanishi-American war, Dre Harvey, by appointment of the surgeon general, United States Army, served as examining surgeon at the recruiting stations in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, where he subjected to a physical ex- amination nearly one thousand applicants for en- listment in the regular and volunteer armies. Dr. Harvey is a member of the Luzerne County Med- ical Society, the Lehigh Valley ( Pennsylvania) Medical Association (of which he has been vice- president), the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, the American Medical Associa- tion, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine. He has served as a delegate from the county to the state society and from the latter to the national association. March 15. 1898, some thirty members of the Luzerne County Medical Society gave a dinner at the Westmore- land Club, Wilkes-Barre, to Drs. Olin F. Harvey and George W. Guthrie, in honor of their having completed twenty-five years each in the practice of medicine in Wilkes-Barre. The banquet-room was decorated with plants and flowers, and the table was arranged in the form of an H, about which the diners were seated in the order of their graduation from the medical colleges. Speeches in response to toasts were made by Drs. Harvey and Guthrie and by others present. Dr. H. Hakes, who received his medical degree the same year that Dr. Harvey was born, said: "Our friends whom we honor tonight have had higher ambitions. They did their duty like men, and they have had their reward-a reward greater than can be measured by dollars. To have such a testimonial as this at the end of twenty-five years is a grand distinction."
In 1890 Dr. Harvey was appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania and confirmed by the senate a member of the board of trustees of the State Asylum for the Insane at Danville, and by successive re-appointments has been contin- ued in the office to the present time. He has during this period taken a very active part in the management of this large and important insti- tution. In December, 1875, Dr. Harvey was ap- pointed assistant surgeon of the "Old" Ninth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania. He resigned his commission in October, 1876. Upon the organization of the "New" Ninth Regiment in the summer of 1879 he was appointed sur- geon of the regiment, and was commissioned, with the rank of major, August 30, 1879, was
re-appointed November 17, 1884, and July I. 1885, and five years later, at the expiration of his last commission, he retired from the National Guard. In March, 1891, in pursuance of a gen- eral order, his name was placed on the "Roll of Retired Officers" in accordance with section 56 of the act of assembly of April 13, 1887.
From January, 1876, to January, 1880, Dr. Harvey held by appointment the office of attend- ing physician at the Luzerne County Prison. In February, 1876, he was elected to represent the Fourth ward of Wilkes-Barre in the board of school directors of the old Third district of Wilkes-Barre, and upon the organization of the board some weeks later was elected treasurer. At a meeting held June 27, 1876, he resigned the treasurership and was elected president of the board. By successive re-elections Dr. Harvey continued a member of the board of directors until August, 1882, when, having removed from the Fourth to the Eighth wards of the city, he was required by law to relinquish his office. Dur- ing the six years and more that he served as di- rector he filled the office of president of the board one year, and the office of secretary two years. During the Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign in 1878 Dr. Harvey was president of the Young Men's Republican Club of Wilkes- Barre, and two years later he was the nominee of the Republican party of Luzerne county for the office of coroner. For the past ten years he has been a companion (second class) of the Mil- itary Order of the Loyal Legion. He is a mem- ber of the flourishing Westmoreland Club of Wilkes-Barre, of which he was one of the organ- izers and incorporators in January, 1889. He was a member of its first board of governors. serving until November, 1891, when he was elected vice-president of the Club. This office he held one year. Dr. Harvey was initiated a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes- Barre, August 17, 1868, and was worshipful master of the lodge in 1875. He was high priest of Shekinah Chapter, No. 182, R. A. M., in 1880, and in 1881 T. I. grand master of Mt. Horeb Council, No. 34. R. S. E. and S. M. From April, 1878, to May, 1881, he was recorder of Dieu le Veut Commandery, No. 45, Knights Templar. He was one of the charter members of E. B. Harvey Lodge, No. 839, I. O. O. F., and was its noble grand for one term. Dr. Harvey and his wife were originally members of the Memorial Presbyterian Church, organized and constituted at Wilkes-Barre in February, 1874, and in June, 1876. Dr. Harvey was elected and ordained one
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of the deacons of the church. Mrs. Sophia J. (Smith) Harvey was one of the organizers in 1892 of the Home for Homeless Women, Wilkes- Barre, which two years later was duly incorpc- rated and is to-day a flourishing and useful in- stitution. Mrs. Harvey has been a member of its board of managers from the beginning. Dr. Harvey owns a summer home on the western shore of Harvey's Lake, which he and his fam- ily occupy during several months each year. Olin F. Harvey, Jr., the only living son of Dr. Olin F. and Sophia J. (Smith) Harvey, is now a junior (class of 1901) in Lafayette College. He is a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, treas- urer of his class and business manager of the board of editors of The Melange, an illustrated college annual published by the juniors.
MATTES FAMILY. The writer of this memoir is a son of the late Charles F. Mattes, of Scranton. He claims little originality therein, being deeply indebted, among others, to the rec- ords kept by his maternal uncle, the late J. C. Platt, and to material supplied by his father's younger brother, Henry L. Mattes, who with his son, the Rev. John Casper Mattes, resides at Trenton, New Jersey.
Understanding that the purpose toward which this contribution has been invited, is chiefly to record the beginnings and doings of the men and women that have contributed by nota- ble service to the advent and consolidation of civilized life in the twin valleys of Wyoming and Lackawanna, the writer conceives the central figure of his family in this work to have been his venerable grandfather, the late Philip H. Mattes, of Easton, Pennsylvania. He took the initiative, but he was grandly supported and followed by the fifty-five years of unbroken and unflinching service of his son. Charles Frederick Mattes.
The first of this line recorded in the family history was John Casper Mattes, born in Ger- many, August, 1670, died September, 1740. He was by trade a cooper. In 1690 he journeyed on his "wanderschaft," carrying an ivory-headed staff, afterward cut down to a cane. We know nothing further of him than that he had a family, and, presumably, being himself a younger son, had the humor and family instinct to bequeath his staff of many journeys to the youngest sons of his generations successively. The head of the cane is removable, and a hollow space under- neath contains its history and injunction. The heir in possession at this time is our venerable and beloved uncle, Henry Louis Mattes, and
the heir apparent is his son, the Rev. John Cas- per Mattes, of Trenton.
Next in line, and second bearer of the staff, was John Quirinus Mattes, born August 7, 1713, died November 21, 1779, married 1739. to Anna Sabina Ney. The youngest of their five chil- dren, and third bearer of the staff was John Cas- per Mattes, born May 21, 1754, at Waldlauber- sheim. In August, 1772, he was conscripted into the Austrian army. The hardships of the service undermined his constitution and shortened his life. After eight years of enforced service, by paying the cost of equipment for two captured and foreign substitutes, he was honorably dis- charged. He appears to have been furloughed the greater part of his last two years, and im- proved the opportunity in the study of music with such success that. October 13, 1782, he was officially appointed schoolmaster and church or- ganist in Bolanden. An explanatory word should here be said concerning the duties and equipment of the German "school-master" of this period. He was expected to be the general instructor of his district. His line of teaching included, in addition to the native German, one or more foreign languages, somewhat of mathe- matics, and, what most of our boys and girls would describe as a "strenuous" course in music. None but his fingers touched the keys of the church organ upon sacred occasions : no one but the pastor came between him and the suffering and dying. He was usually, in secular matters, the legal authority. He was the "conveyancer.' He composed and wrote deeds, wills, contracts and compromises ; surveyed and settled boun- dary lines between properties; was the writer for those that could not write, and was the all- round helper, counselor and peace-maker.
Our emigrant ancestor, the second John Cas- per Mattes, brought to Pennsylvania and put into active practice the best traditions in his calling-a high personal skill in its performance, "a gentle, patient disposition and with-all, a sober and upright life. We congratulate the congregation that will obtain him as an instruc- tor." I quote from the Lutheran inspector's cer- tificate dated Kircheim, 5 September, 1782. He was married November 17, 1782, to Wilhelmina Dorothea Eberle, who bore him two sons; the- eldest, Frederick Christian, was born September 9, 1783, and the youngest, our ancestor and fourth bearer of the staff, Philip Heinrich, Feb- ruary 20, 1785.
The Eberle family, to which Mrs. John C. Mattes belonged, was a good one, which for
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generations had been well educated, and the men skilled in the making of fine cutlery, surgical in- struments and silversmithing. One of the broth- ers, Charles Louis Eberle, was at this time em- ployed at Paris, where he later had a lively ex- perience of which he has left a brief record. He relates : "During my stay with Mons. Mesnal, the long dreaded revolution broke out, on the 14th of July, 1789. I myself got entangled in that business, was taken out of my rented room and forced to become a volunteer. We first stormed the Hotel des Invalides, took arms and ammunition from there, marched to the Bastile and took it in about two hours, let all prisoners out, hung up the commandant thereof, and then, toward evening, the mob dispersed-a short, dangerous and disagreeable work. I hate to think of it. A few days after this the multitude went to Versailles to bring the King to Paris; they were all armed with muskets, guns, axes, hay-forks, even scythes straightened and put 11pon poles, large knives, etc., etc., it looked dreadful. * Now in September follow- ing a government order was published that all foreigners who intended to stay in France should swear allegiance to the country or quit it. I chose the latter; took a passport and quitted Paris about the middle of September, 1789. Sev- eral other Germans did the same and went with me. After a march of ten days on foot we ar- rived safely in Strasburg. Here I tarried about four weeks : worked with Mons. Weber and made liim several sets of obstetrical instruments, ac- cording to Mons. Bandeloque, the great accou- cheur of Paris. Toward the end of October I left Strasburg, and in a few days arrived safely at my parents' at Dalheim. During the winter I applied for permission to settle in Kircheim- Boland, the residence of the Prince of Nassau- Weilburg. Having received permission, I re- moved there early in the next spring, and 18th May. 1790, was married to Miss Maria C. Renter."
"We were established but a short time when war commenced between the Germans and the French ; the French army came and took Mentz. Our prince with his whole court left 11s and crossed the Rhine. My principal dependence was gone-there was nothing but battles, plundering and quartering troops, Germans and French. I never had less than two and as many as twenty- one soldiers in my house. and other troubles in plenty. Mentz was taken and retaken several times, the last time early in the year 1794. As now the river Rhine was cleared by the retreat of the French army and no prospect of peace
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