Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 73

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 73
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II > Part 73

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showed itself, I resolved at once to emigrate with my small family to America. I informed my brother-in-law, John C. Mattes, who resolved to go with me with his family, as did my two brothers, George A. and Henry J. Eberle. We made ourselves ready, and on the 26th of April took leave of our dear parents, shipped down the river Rhine and bade good bye to our Fatherland."

The start was made from Bingen. In letters to his brother Richard, John Mattes relates how they were delayed by "frequent tolls and head winds," and did not reach Rotterdam until May 9th, when, to their great disappointment. they learned that a ship had sailed the day before. This delayed them several weeks, but they fin- ally sailed from Amsterdam June 24th. 1794. The letter tells of being halted in the channel and questioned by an English war ship, and of seeing a British fleet of thirty-six vessels ; of the perils and hardships of the tedious voyage, which fin- ally ended at Philadelphia, September 5. 1794. He adds, "thank God, my wife, both the children and I have been preserved in good health till this time."

On the 21st he signed a contract with "the honorable Church Council of both of the congre- gations in the town of Easton" to serve one year as organist, schoolmaster, etc. He soon found himself very happily situated, and made himself greatly respected and beloved. Offers came from larger places, but he refused to leave the friends he had made and faithfully fulfilled his duties until, smitten by consumption, he died Septem- ber 23, 1809, in his fifty-fifth year.

The youngest son, Philip Henry, now inher- ited the staff, which he was to bear with such in- tegrity, honor and dignity through a long life. His early instruction came naturally from his father, who wrote to his relatives in Germany about January. 1801 : "The younger. Philip Heinrich, is still with me. He is quick at learn- ing and speaks, reads and writes English, which is the chief language here, as well as his German mother tongue. He is well along in arithmetic and has learned book keeping. He is now learn- ing geometry and surveying, and is assistant in the English school." He studied surveying very thoroughly, and practiced it, along with his other work, many years. Later he entered a classical school, where he studied Latin, Greek and higher mathematics. Although doubtful of his fitness for the ministry, to please his father, he studied theology under a noted scholar, the Rev. Dr. Christian Endreos (pastor at Easton 1803-15). and to his father's great joy, as related by him in

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a pathetic letter to his brother-in-law Eberle, was able to deliver his first sermon before the father's death. In May, 1807, he applied to the Synod convened at Lancaster for a license, which was granted after the usual strict examination. On account of throat trouble, he later gave up the ministry. He was then twenty-two years old. In August of this year he received his final nat- uralization papers. His further record is one of continuous activity, uniformly successful and re- markable in scope ; made possible only by a lum- inous intelligence, complete preparation, orderly system and patient industry. He left no frayed edges ; as Dr. Monussen wrote of Cæsar, "He finished whatever he took in hand."

April 17, 1809, he was appointed deputy reg- istrar of wills for Northampton county. May 21, 1809, he was married to Catherine Herster, granddaughter of Andrew Herster, who was a sergeant of an Easton company of infantry cap- tured at the battle of Long Island in August, 1776, and who, under the cold and starvation of the infamous prison-ship, "Jersey," gave up his vigorous and useful life on Christmas Day, De- cember 25, 1776. The victims of that hell of torture are commemorated by the monument in Trinity churchyard, New York city.

May 8, 1813, he was appointed postmaster at Easton, and held the office sixteen years, through four national administrations, viz .: The second of Madison, 1813-17: Monroe, 1817-25; John Quincy Adams, 1825-29. He resigned in 1828, but George Wolf, then in congress and later gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, and a warm personal friend, requested that he hold the resignation "under advisement" for another quarter, until a suitable successor could be found. Wolf's letter was dated December 6, 1828. The Bank of Pennsylvania was incorporated by the act of 30th March, 1793. The incorporators were Samttel Howel, John Barclay, Clement Biddle, John Ross, Edward Fox, John Swanwick and George Meads, of Philadelphia; Edward Hand, Robert Coleman, George Ross, Adam Reigart and Cas- per Shaffuer, Lancaster; James Deimer, Joseph Heister, James May, Jacob Bower and Thomas Dundas, Reading. Authorized capital, $3,000,- 000. The central bank was located in Philadel- phia, on Second street, below Chestnut. Branches were established at Reading, Lancaster, York and Easton. The Easton branch was opened about 1809 with Mordecai Churchman, of Phila- delphia, as cashier; the bookkeepers were also Philadelphians. It was closed for a short time in 1827, but was reopened in that year with Philip H. Mattes as manager and cashier. The financial

panic of 1837-43 sealed the doom of the central bank and caused the withdrawal of the branches. However, Mr. Mattes was retained several years, collecting and winding up the business. Among other depositors and business clients of the branch during its active years was the firm of George W. and Selden T. Scranton & Co., of Oxford Furnace, New Jersey, the home of George at that time being at Belvidere on the Delaware.

In October. 1845, Mr. Mattes was elected, and November 17th commissioned, registrar of wills. He also served as treasurer of the Easton Gas and Water Company, beginning in 1848, and resigned in 1868, and was also "actuary" (cashier and manager) of the Dime Savings Bank from its formation in or about 1850 to his resignation in 1868. In January, 1851, he was commissioned by Governor Johnston as "a member of the Com- mittee for this State, for the purpose of affording to the citizens of Pennsylvania every facility for the representation of their various products at the Exhibition of the Industry, Genius and skill of all Nations to be held in the City of London in May next."

During all this long stretch of years his indus- try and usefulness were great. Outside of his official duties, always promptly finished, fre- quently involving hardship and peril, as in the transportation of specie by wagon between Eas- ton and Philadelphia, his method never slipped a cog. An industriously busy man, he always had time for the councils of his family, his church, his locality and the needs of his neighbors. It is difficult to conceive of a more useful man. In its essentials his home life did not differ greatly from the best of the Fatherland standards. He reared a large family. Five daughters and two sons lived to mature years. Of them the younger son and youngest child, our venerable and be- loved Uncle Henry, alone survives, well remem- bered by many as the skilled pianist, organist and musical instructor of a full generation, and lio11- ored by all that know him.

The year 1840 brought him into touch with the Valley of the Lackawanna. When those en- ergetic, fearless and sagacious brothers, George WV. and Selden T. Scranton, had satisfied their minds to the effect that this valley contained something more than the raw materials for the manufacture of iron ; that hidden in her bosom were millions of tons of the best domestic fuel on earth: needing financial backing, they natur- ally turned to the man who was not only their banker, but also, for several years, had been their financial preceptor and advisor. They

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drew him into an enterprise foreign to his busi- ness habit and explainable only by his high re- gard for George Scranton, and his desire to open a business career for his son Charles, who was then twenty-one years of age. In 1840, with his son, he visited and examined the property. decided to invest, and took a fourth part in thic firm of Seranton, Grant & Company, with a capi- tal of $20,000. In April, 1841, the son returned to enter upon a work and life worthy of his father's example, rich in service and fruitfulness. The cordial relations and mutual esteem existing between Philip H. Mattes and George W. Scran- ton at this time was remarkable, in view of the high reputation of Mr. Mattes, and the disparity in ages, Mr. Mattes being twenty-six years older than MIr. Scranton.

The theory upon which the enterprise in the Lackawanna Valley was based had three princi- pal prongs. The first was the manufacture of iron ; second, the mining of coal for mar !- et, which included the construction of railways ; third, the founding of a city and sale of building lots. Three successive attempts to "blow in their first furnace and make pig-iron resulted in flat failures. But, as Mr. J. C. Platt has written, "these young pioneers must succeed, or financial ruin stared them in the face." Here are a few extracts from a letter, dated February 13. 1842, George W. Scranton to Philip H. Mattes.

"My dear friend. We are still in the land of the living and our furnace is (bv hard work) doing pretty well now. The last forty- eight hours we have made four castings, 215 pigs average weight seventy pounds, and from runners or sows 500 pounds each, in all making say 17,050 pounds good iron. We are selling some per ton at 33d. *

* It will be impossible to get everything moving on syste- matically this blast. All of us are doing our best. *

* If we don't make much money, it will be greatly to our credit to keep her going as long as things hold together."

The ensuing correspondence between Mr. Mattes and the Scranton brothers is honorable and frank in the relation of their honest work and in the reliance of the younger business mei upon the veteran banker for, not only financial support but, even after the capitalists of New York had been enlisted, for general and legal advice in the drafting of essential papers. In the whole outfit there was no pen like his, be it for penmanship, diction, financial training or knowledge of the law. All the others concerned found themselves obliged to lean heavily upon him.

Letter, Selden T. Scranton to Philip H.

Mattes, dated Lackawanna Iron Works, May 22, 1845, reports Welsh puddlers all gone and their places filled by English and Irish. Commends Charles F. Mattes for his efforts to learn the business and for doing all he can to promote in- terests of the firm.

From New York, September 18, 1846, George W. Scranton to Philip H. Mattes. George W. and Joseph Scranton in New York endeavoring to raise capital. Relates plans in detail and re- quests Philip H. Mattes to write and inform him whether plans will conflict with Pennsylvania laws.

October 4, 1846. George W. Scranton to Philip H. Mattes. He and Josephi H. Scranton just returned from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In course of trip visited several iron works. Erie Railway directors appointed Presi- dent Loder and William E. Dodge a committee to visit Lackawanna, investigate and report. Propose to make capital $200,000, putting in present concern at $100,000. Desires Philip H. Mattes to accept note for $1,000.

New York, November, 1846, George W. Scranton to Philip H. Mattes. Report of com- mittee favorable. Propose to put property in hands of trustees ( Philip H. Mattes, John How- ley and George W. Scranton) who will give mortgage for $100,000 or more for capital needed, etc. Desires Philip H. Mattes to at once come to New York and assist in drawing up papers and give benefit of his legal and general information.

During this month, Mr. Grant having retired, the firm was reorganized under the name of Scrantons & Platt.

Oxford Furnace, November 23, 1846, George W. Scranton to Philip H. Mattes. Announces return and "carried out our whole matter tri- umphantly." Sends papers to be signed, dis- cusses financial arrangements and expresses satisfaction that the danger has been passed.

Then came a stroke of generalship which has seldom been equalled in the annals of industrial triumphs. The Erie Railway was in its birth- struggles, and, in order to earn a promised bontis from the state of New York, necessary to its existence, muist reach Binghamton by a certain time. The greatest difficulty that confronted the company was to obtain the iron rails. The firmn of Scrantons & Platt determined to secure the contract and did so. Its execution involved the construction of a rail-mill under very great diffi- culties, the accumulation of pig iron, an increase of capital, and the delivery of the rails through forest and swamp, over fields and mountains, an

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average of fully fifty miles, to the Erie line * * the contract was carried out on time, the Erie saved and the iron works placed upon a solid basis.

In 1849 the firm undertook the construction of a railroad from the iron works to a connection with the Erie Railroad at Great Bend, a work that was duly carried to completion under the supervision of George Scranton without letting a single contract. April 25th the "Ligget's Gap Railroad Company" was duly organized with John J. Phelps, president ; Selden T. Scranton, treasurer, and Charles F. Mattes, secretary.

A letter written by Philip H. Mattes, dated Scranton, October 20, 1851, to his eldest daugh- ter, Sabina, describes the opening of the new road, October 15th, which had then been named the "Lackawanna and Western." After a brief narrative of the trip from Scranton "with George Scranton and a goodly number of others," he says, "the iron horse was fresh and

strong and * without once balking or stumbling * * landed us safely in the little town of Great Bend on the other side of the Susquehanna. Here we were met by a large

company of the 'associates' from New York and other places, just arrived by the Erie road- many of them with their wives and daughters- and soon started on our way back, reaching Scranton in good broad daylight, having been greeted at one point with the display of flags on the mountain top and the cannon's roar in the valley below, and at another with the music of a military band * *

* and at many places by the loud hurrahs of the assembled crowds." At Scranton they were met by another band "and the whole population." In obedience to calls "a number of sponters addressed the crowd from the steps of the hotel, Mr. Porter leading off and Dr. Throop bringing up the rear." "Thursday was devoted to business, and the meeting of stock- holders in the evening was extended *

* into the next day, it being past I o'clock

before we adjourned." % * "The trains are now making their daily trips over the new road, both with coal and passengers. Yes- terday they carried some twenty-five passen- gers up. * *

% There is a large stock of coal on hand ready for transportation, with a pros- pect of now being at length able to do a remuner- ating business. I hope disappointment may not again, as so often heretofore, bring up the rear."

Eleven years already ; and more to come of investment, labor, risks, anxieties, before a dollar comes in return. Thus was the Lackawanna Railroad, babe of the Scranton, Platt and Mattes

families, born amid rejoicings, fears and hopes. The next long stride promptly followed. It was risky ; it meant longer waiting for remuneration. It was useful and beneficent; for these unsat- isfied men were builders. A shorter route to New York City had been planned even before the northern road had been completed. A stock- holder's meeting assembled at Stroudsburg, De- cember 26, 1850, and elected as officers: George W. Scranton, president ; John I. Blair, treasurer ; Charles F. Mattes, secretary.

So it happened that my father was the first secretary of both of the first locomotive railroads that penetrated the valley ; these being soon con- solidated into the "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western."

The untimely death of George Scranton, March 24, 1861, inflicted upon all of his co- workers a severe shock and bitter sorrow. They loved and needed him.

The enlargement of the business necessitated subdivided organizations. This condition, to- gether with the weight of years, explains the gradual retirement of our grandfather, Philip H. Mattes, from a potent touch upon the keys of Scranton. Submissively had he assimilated the wisdom of his fathers. Patiently and perfectly had his life's work been done. Carefully he wound up all his business and family obligations. Peacefully he slept into the rest (May 19, 1870,) aged eighty-six years. In person he was a notable figure. More than six feet in height and upright as the typical American Indian ; al- ways carefully dressed, a heavy growth of snow- white hair and beard; a Roman nose that, at times meant something, but generally was con- tradicted by the kindly eyes and gentle tempera- ment that made friends of all the children. When he and George Scranton walked together they made a courtly pair toward whom all passers ren- dered deference and many turned to observe.

His son, helper and successor in this valley, was Charles Frederick Mattes, born at Easton, May 26, 1819. His earlier record in the valley has partly, hereinbefore, been mentioned. His education was such as the ordinary schools of Easton were capable of, supplemented by his father's instruction in surveying and the use of drafting instruments. Also in satisfaction of his muscular promptings, he sawed and planed his way to a skillful command of carpenter's tools. Thus, twenty-one years of age, of fine physique and sound in health, was he equipped for the long campaign that began in 1841 in a clerkship from which he soon climbed to higher positions, towit : Superintendent of furnaces; superin-

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tendent of mines ; general superintendent ; gen- tral manager ; second vice-president.

The wholesome instinct for a home life and family relationships also bore fruit. In 1846 came Joseph Curtis Platt with his wife Catherine, who was a sister of Joseph H. Scranton ; also his own sister, Lydia Maria, who, in that same year was married to Charles F. Mattes. Two daughters and four sons of this union lived to mature years. The younger daughter, Anna, married in 1875 to Alexander Sherrerd, died about a year later. The others survive. The wife and mother died Jan- mary 14, 1861. The distressed father, distracted between his exacting business duties and the care of his family of children, married again the next year, a widow, Mrs. Crosby, of Wilkes-Barre. An earnest Christian woman, she was an excel- lent step-mother. Her aged mother, Grandma Hart, well remembered many of the men and women who had experienced the perils of the "Wyoming Massacre." By this marriage there was one daughter, Cornelia Wilson Mattes, born December 7, 1864.

The career of Charles F. Mattes presents few high-lights, being mainly remarkable for steady and intelligent industry ; an almost fanatical loy- alty to the company he served, and a persistent seeking for opportunities to serve his fellow men, dictated by his deep sympathies and his dominat- ing belief in his responsibilities before God; in whose fear and love he ruled his house. Perhaps a better tribute cannot be paid than to quote the words of one of his veteran German workmen : "When Sharley Mattes dells you somedings- dats so."

In his young manhood, he was full of lively fun, the joy maker of every social gathering of the early days. We remember well his keen in- terest in every form of bird life; in the moun- tains, streams, forests and flowers of his home- land. He was also an excellent all-round horse- man. He disciplined his soul into the perform- ance of everything that a quick conscience de- manded. To such men "day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowl- edge."

The formalities of the ancestral Lutheran church with the home training, apparently estab- lished an orderly regulation of his healthful life. It remained for the infant First Presbyterian Church of Scranton to really bring him upon his knees before the God of his fathers. Once convinced, he never for a moment faltered. There was always "a prophet's chamber" in his house, and always a cordial welcome at his table for ministers and elders. This was well known and

availed of, to the happiness of the family. One of our frequent treats was when the late Rev. Dr. Parke, of Pittston, would unannounced walk in upon us at our mid-day meal and we young- sters would gleefully scurry around to make place for him. How genial he was-a ray of sunshine !

Almost from their beginnings in this valley he became a worker in the Presbyterian Church and Sunday school. For nearly forty years he was a trustee and elder. For seventeen years he served in the city councils, where he was dreaded by grafters. For many years and during his severest struggles, it was a rule of his house that none should be turned empty away. The text "I was hungry and ye gave me food" prevailed until the evidence of systematic fraud could no longer be ignored. He witnessed and was an active factor, in the growth of Scranton from a hamlet of five little dwellings to a city of 90,000 people, and entered into his rest September 3, 1895.

His eldest son, William F., born September 29, 1849, began work in 1866 under Joel Ams- den, who was then official engineer of the bor- ough of Scranton. As chief of party he staked out street lines for a considerable part of the present city. In Amsden's office he worked upon plans for residences, including one for Rev. Father Whitty, now occupied by Bishop Hoban; 1866-73, railway .construction and operation and agent at iron mines and furnaces in New Jersey ; 1873-78, manager of iron mines and furnaces in Virginia-operations ended by a flood in the James river that destroyed all means of transpor- tation ; four years miscellaneous work ; 1882-88, chief engineer Lackawanna Iron and Steel Works ; 1888-93, general manager West Superior Iron and Steel Works: director First National Bank; president Manufacturers, Shippers and Jobbers Association ; a pioneer of the Mesaba Iron Range, and president of one of the largest companies there ; park commissioner for the city of Superior, etc. Driven by failing health to a vacation in Colorado, he was soon confronted by the fact that his business position and practically everything he owned had been destroyed by the misconduct of New York officials. Hemmed be- tween sickness and industrial depression, he 11n- dertook gold mining with disaster. Later, taught by experience, acquired mining interests. Some years of practice as a consulting engineer fol- lowed, broken by nearly two years as chief engi- neer of location and construction of the Lacka- wanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad (Laurel Line), between Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Car- bondale, terminated by transfer of control to the

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Westinghouse interest. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Amer- ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Franklin Institute, and Sons of the Revolution. He was admitted to membership of the Presbyterian Church of Dover, New Jersey, in 1868; was superintendent of First Presbyterian Sunday school of Scranton for five years to 1888; direc- tor and vice-president of Y. M. C. A. of Scran- ton several years. He was married twice. First, November 18, 1875, to Margaret L., daughter of Dr. T. R. Crittenden, of Dover, New Jersey. She died at Glenwood, Virginia, the following year. Second, December 16, 1886, to Mary L., daughter of Dr. Augustus Van Cleef, of Scran- ton (veteran surgeon of a cavalry regiment of regulars of the Army of the Potomac). They have one son, Philip Van Cleef, born October 14, 1887.

The next child of Charles is Mary Gertrude, born November 3, 1851, who is now mistress of the old homestead. Always interested and active in all good work, she was an angel of comfort to her father's declining years.

The second son of Charles was Edward Cur- tis, born June 28, 1856. He served under his elder brother in Virginia. He was later in the steel plant at Scranton. He was one of the ill- trepid little party that suppressed the mob on Lackawanna avenue in 1877, and was first ser- geant of one of the battalion companies imme- diately thereafter organized. Threatened with lung trouble, he removed to Colorado, and tried ranching, then railroading. He married, Oc- tober, 1890, Miss Jeannette St. Clair, of Can- ada. For several years he has been superin- tendent of mining properties, with residence at Pueblo, Colorado.

The third son of Charles was Charles Cas- per, born August 5, 1858. He served a year un- der his brother in Virginia in 1877. He returned to Scranton, and for thirty years has been in the employ of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Com- pany, leading a strenuous career as civil and mining engineer of their plant. After his fath- er's death in 1895 he was placed in full control of the real estate of the company, which he has since managed with recognized success. In 1878 he enlisted in the Scranton City Guards (a battalion which afterwards became the Thir- teenth Regiment, National Guards of Pennsyl- vania). In this regiment he served for twenty- one years, passing through all grades from pri- vate to lieutenant-colonel. During the Home- stead campaign in 1892 he performed the double duty of regimental quartermaster and commis-

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 73

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