USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 17
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 17
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
Such was Thomas Minor, the immigrant an- cestor of that branch of the Miner family in America, from whom are descended the Miners of the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania. Grace Palmer, wife of Thomas, died in 1690. Her father, Walter Palmer, was made a freeman in 163I, and before 1633 married Rebecca Short, with his family joining the church in Charles- town in that year. In 1642 he removed to Reho- both, Plymouth colony, received large tracts of land, was elected to the general court of Ply- mouth, and became a man of much consequence in public and church affairs. He died in 1662,
I. In the first generation from Henry (I), the sur- name was given as Miners; in the sixth as Mynor; in the seventh and eighth as Myner ; in the ninth, by Clem- ent, as Miner, and in the tenth by Thomas, the immi- grant, as Minor. This Thomas' grandsons resumed the original surname Miner, which has since been continued by his descendants to the present generation.
92
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
leaving a will which was admitted to probate in Boston. The children of Thomas Minor (10) and his wife Grace Palmer, were John, Joseph, Thomas, Clement (II), Ephraim, Menasseh, Ann, Maria, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Hannah. From Thomas (10), the immigrant ancestor in America, the line of descent comes through Cle- ment (II), Clement .(12), Hugh (13), and Seth (14), to Asher (15), and Charles (15), the latter the pioneers of the family in Pennsylvania.
Ensign Seth Miner (14) was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1742, and died January 15, 1822. His body lies in the old graveyard in Doylestown. His wife was Anna Charlton, born probably about 1744 (no more accurate record is obtainable), and died November 4, 1804. Seth and Anna were progenitors of the Miner pioneers in Pennsylvania, and as such are worthy to be re- membered in these annals. Their children were Elizabeth, born December 12, 1768, married Cap- tain Boswell; Anna, born November 20, 1770, died unmarried ; Sarah, born August 31, 1773: Asher, born in Norwich, Connecticut, March 3, 1778: Charles, born in Norwich, February I. 1780.
Seth Miner was commissioned ensign of the Twentieth Regiment, Connecticut militia, June, 1776. He had inherited something of the martial spirit of his ancestors, who had given service to the colonies during the Pequot war and also dur- ing King Philip's war which followed. Indeed, the New England colonists knew little of the blessings of peace after 1636, or from that time to the close of the war for independence. There was hardly an able-bodied New England settler who was not in some manner called into service in defense of home and family during all this century and a half, although individual records of service were imperfectly kept and never pre- served. To appreciate the trials and hardships which beset the life of the settlers in the eastern colonies the reader must have recourse to au- thentic records of New England history from the landing of the Pilgrims to the overthrow of the British supremacy in America. Seth Miner was a member of the Susquehanna Land Company and as such had a claim in the territory so long in
dispute between the Pennsylvania proprietary and the colony of Connecticut ; and his son Charles Miner was deputed to come out to the Susqu- hanna to look after his father's interests there.
Asher Miner, son of Seth and elder brother of Charles, served an apprenticeship of some years in the office of the Gazette and Commer- . cial Intelligencer, at New London, Connecticut, and afterwards worked one year as a journeyman in New York. At the suggestion of his brother, Charles, Asher Miner came into the Wyoming valley and continued work at his trade. He was there employed on the Wilkes-Barre Gasette, which suspended publication in 1801, and soon afterward he founded the Luserne County Fed- cralist, the first number of which appeared Jan- uary 5, 1801. In April, 1802. he formed a part- nership with his brother Charles, which was con- tinued until May, 1804, when Asher's interest was sold to Charles.
Leaving Wilkes-Barre, Asher Miner removed to Doylestown, and on July 7, 1804, issued the first number of the Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmer's Advertiser, a strong paper with equally strong Federalist leanings, which after- ward became known as the Bucks County In- telligencer. For a time the publisher struggled against adversity, and the first issue was practi- cally given away ; but at length the paper found favor with the people, success rewarded the pa- tient efforts of its proprietor, and he remained at its head for twenty-one years. When his first newspaper venture had become a success Mr. Miner branched out into new journalistic fields, and as early as 1806 announced his intention to found a monthly magazine, although his plans never reached fruition. In 1816 he declared his purpose to establish a "monthly literary and agricultural register," and even went so far as to name the proposed publication the Olive Branch, but this project was also abandoned through lack of substantial encouragement. How- ever, in 1817, Mr. Miner opened a branch office in Newtown, and on May 21, issued the first number of The Star of Freedom, a paper de- voted chiefly to "agricultural, biographical, liter- ary, and moral matters," his ostensible purpose
93
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
being to "fill a long-felt want," but in fact to keep newspaper competition out of the county. The latter purpose was accomplished, but his endeavor was poorly rewarded, and the paper was discon- tinued in 1818. Asher Miner was postmaster at Doylestown several years, and kept the office in his printing establishment, where he also kept various articles on sale such as were proper to be handled by a man of his understanding and repu- tation, and which were conducive to the material health of man, for Mr. Miner was in all respects an upright Christian gentleman, a man of learn- ing, a writer of marked ability, and a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. He relin- quished the postmastership in 1821, and in 1824 sold his paper, then known as the Pennsylvania Correspondent, to Edward Morris and Samuel R. Kramer of Philadelphia. He then removed to West Chester and joined his brother Charles in publishing the Village Record. In 1834 this paper was sold, after which the brothers returned to Wilkes-Barre, where Asher died March 13, 1841.
The wife of pioneer Asher Miner was Mary Wright, daughter of Thomas Wright and his wife Mary Dyer. They were married May 19, 1800, and thirteen children were born to them : Anna Maria, born August 23, 1801 ; married Dr. Abramı Stout ; Thomas Wright, born August 22, 1803, died October 21, 1855; Robert, born Au- gust 17, 1805 : Elizabeth, born January 30, 1808, died May 1, 1835; Sarah, born 1810, died 1841 ; Caroline, born June 13, 1812, died July 22, 1812; Charles, born March 5, 1814, died July 20, 1829; Samuel Green, born February 26, 1816, died Oc- tober, 1847; Asher, born 1818, died 1824; Mary W., born 1820, died 1839; Helen, born Decem- ber 3, 1822, died June 18, 1841 ; Joseph Wright, born January 29, 1825, died February 5. 1859 ; Asher (2), born May 16, 1826, died same month ; Mary Wright Miner, wife of Asher, died in Jan- uary, 1830, and Asher married (second) May 13, 1835, Mrs. Thomazin (Hance) Boyer, Robert Miner, third child and second son of Asher and Mary, married, January 3, 1826, Eliza Abbott, born October 22, 1806, died August 18, 1846. They had children : Helen Elizabeth, born June
17, 1828, died March 4, 1829: Charles Abbott, born August 30, 1830; died July 25, 1903; John Howard, born January 4, 1838, died June 18, 1844.
Robert Miner, third child of Asher and Mary (Wright) Miner, was born at Doylestown, Penn- sylvania, August 17, 1805. He took charge of his father's mill at the age of fourteen, and for a number of years taught school in Plains town- ship, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. On the third of January, 1826, in his twenty-first year, he married Eliza Abbott (born October 22, 1806, died August 18, 1846), daughter of Stephen and Abigail Searle Abbott. About this time he built the house on the corner of Mock street and Miner Road, (Miner's Mills) afterward occupied for many years by his father, Asher Miner. After his marriage he again took charge of his father's mill at Wrightsville (now Miner's Mills) and ran it until it burned down in 1826, and then rebuilt it. In 1833, in connection with Eleazer Carey, he purchased the Wyoming Herald, a weekly news- paper. They published the paper until 1835, when it was merged with the Wyoming Repub- lican, then being published in Kingston. On November 1, 1836, Mr. Miner entered the office- of the Hazelton Coal Company, which had just been incorporated, as clerk. He boarded in the. old Drumheller Tavern in Hazleton kept by Lewis Davenport, and the company's office was in the lower room of an addition built on the east end of the old house. The company laid out some of its land in town lots and began to sell them. The first house on the plot was built in 1837. The same year Robert Miner built himself a home on lot No. 9, square II, and brought his wife and son Charles there from Plains on July 4th. His second son, John Howard, born in the following January, was the third child born in Hazelton. He became secretary of the company and acted as its treasurer also. At that time Ario Pardee was superintendent, and in 1840 he and Mr. Miner formed a partnership in the coal business with a miner by the name of Hunt, under the firm name of Pardee, Miner & Company. They mined coal by contract and loaded it into boats at Penn Haven. Mr. Miner was obliged by ill
94
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
health to withdraw from the firm in 1841, when he and his family returned to the old home on his farm in Plains. In November, 1842, having bus- iness of importance to attend to in Easton and Philadelphia, he and his younger brother Jo- seph traveled thither in a carriage. They re- turned on December 9, and that night, Robert was taken violently ill and died before morning. "He has been described as of peculiar and sub- stantial worth, at all times cheerful and happy, with power to raise those emotions in others. His life was an exemplication of the true greatness to which many may attain through a mastery over self. His piety, charity and urbanity became a part of his existence ; to do good to his fellow creatures was the pleasure of his life. He was polite without show, charitable without ostenta- tion and religious without bigotry. In business he was punctual and exact, and such was the burthen he took upon himself in whatever he en- gaged in, that those coming after him found little to do." He had three children, only one of whom survived him: Helen Elizabeth, born June 17, 1828, died March 4, 1829 ; Charles Abbott, born August 30, 1830, died July 25, 1903 ; and John Howard, born January 4, 1838, died June 18, 18.14.
Hon. Charles Abbott Miner, eldest son of Robert and Eliza (Abbott) Miner, was born in Plains township, August 30, 1830. He was edu- cated at Wilkes-Barre Academy and the academy at West Chester, Pennsylvania. His whole bus- iness life was devoted to milling enterprises, and until his retirement from their active manage- ment he operated a mill built on the site of his grandfather's plant at Miner's Mills, which was making flour in 1795. Thus he was a miller by inheritance, and in turn passed the business on to his son, Asher. Mr. Miner was first president of the Pennsylvania State Millers' Association. He was identified with many of Wilkes-Barre's in- . dustrial enterprises. For twenty-five years he was a director of the Wyoming National Bank, and its vice-president at the time of his death. For fifteen years he was president of the Coalville (Ashley) Street Railway Company ; was presi- dent of the board of directors of the Wilkes-
Barre City Hospital from the time of its organi- zation ; president of the board of trustees of the Wilkes-Barre (afterward the Harry Hillman) Academy, and at one time was president of the Luzerne County Agricultural Society. He be- came a commissioner of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania in 1877. Politically he was a Republican, and he served his party with ability and energy. From 1875 to 1880 he rep- resented Wilkes-Barre in the lower house of the state legislature, and in 1881 was his party's candidate for the senate, but was defeated at the polls by his Democratic opponent, Eckley B. Coxe. He was closely identified with the Wyom- ing Historical and Geological Society for forty years, a life member, president 1881, vice-presi -· dent 1887-1890, and a trustee from 1887 to 1904. He was the author of "The Early Grist Mills of Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania," read before the society in 1900. During the Civil war he en- listed in Company K, Thirtieth Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers, and was honorably dis- charged as a sergeant July 26, 1863.
Mr. Miner was a firm believer in thorough education for young men and women, and was ever zealous in advancing the educational stand- ard. For many years he furnished the Miner prizes for declamation contests in the Harry Hill- man Academy. He was known by his good works, and felt a deep interest in all that per- tained to the welfare of his city and its people. He lived a good life, above all selfish and sordid interests that sometimes animates men of means and influences their actions. He followed the im- pulses of a heart that felt for humanity in gen- eral, and in his death he left a memory that al- ways will be cherished in grateful remembrance. An estimate of the esteem in which Mr. Miner was held in the city of his home among his neighbors and fellow citizens with whom he was in daily association and business relations, is well shown by an extract from the Leader published on the day of his funeral, July 27, 1903 :
"All that was mortal of the Hon. Charles A. Miner was this afternoon consigned to its last resting place. In the death of Mr. Miner, Wilkes-Barre has indeed sustained a severe loss.
Char S. Vier
95
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
A public-spirited. philanthropic citizen, he was ever ready to help in advancing the welfare of his city and its inhabitants. His personal side was particularly loveable to all who knew him, and his business integrity was a strong example to many of the younger business men of the com- munity. The deeds of Mr. Miner will live in this city for many a long day. After all, they are the most lasting tribute to a citizen's memory. But it would not be amiss to erect in the public square or on the river common, or some such appro- priate spot-the property of the people-a monu- ment to Mr. Miner's memory, something for the boys and girls of coming generations to look up to and to inspire in them the same noble traits and characteristics which made Charles A. Miner one of the best citizens Wilkes-Barre ever had."
No less gratifying to Mr. Miner's family and friends were the many other evidences of regard which found public expression on the occasion of his death, among them being numerous news- paper comments, the resolutions adopted by the vestry of St. Stephen's Church, the board of di- rectors of the Wyoming National Bank, the di- rectors of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital. Con- yngham Post. No. 97. G. A. R., the Pennsyl- vania State Millers' Association, besides hun- dreds of letters received by members of the fam- ily from friends and business acquaintances in various parts of the country.
Charles Abbott Miner married, January 19, 1853. Eliza Ross Atherton,1 born in Kingston
I. A James Atherton settled in Wyoming, Penn- HA! sylvania, in 1762, and a James Atherton, junior, settled in Kingston, in 1769. They were undoubtedly Connec- ticut Athertons, although their connection is not defi- mitely traced in family, town, or parish records; but the James Atherton who died in 1798 and lies buried in Forty Fort is probably the one who was born in 1816. whose father soid his lands in Lancaster in 1740, and then moved away. This James Atherton married Eliz- abeth Borden, born September, 1718. died March 25. 1802. They had two children, the second being James (2) born September 19. 1751, died May 5, 1828, buried at Galena, Ohio: married May 3, 1774. Lydia Wash- burn, born May 16. 1757. died June 20, 1847, Galena, Ohio. James and Lydia had thirteen children, of whom Elisha, born Wyoming, May 7, 1786, died April 2, 1853, was the sixth. Elisha married, February 3, 1828. Caroline Ann Ross, daughter of General William Ross and his wife Elizabeth Sterling, married October 10, 1790. Eliza Ross Atherton, daughter of Elisha Ather- ton and Caroline Ann Ross, his wife, married Charles Abbott Miner.
township (now Wyoming borough). Pennsyl- vania, March 10, 1831, daughter of Elisha Ather- ton, born in Wyoming, May 7, 1786, died April 2. 1853, and wife Caroline Ann Ross, born Wilkes- Barre, February 24. 1797, died August 18. 1885. Charles A. and Eliza Ross Miner had children : Elizabeth, born 1853. died unmarried, a modest, lovely and lovable Christian, November 22, 1902 ; Robert, died young : William Ross. died young ; Asher. born November 14, 1860, married Hetty M. Lonsdale ; Sidney Roby, born July 28, 1864; Charles Howard, M. D., born July 5. 1868, mar- ried Grace Lea Shoemaker, sister of Mrs. Asher Miner : supra.
Colonel Asher Miner was educated in the pub- lic schools, at the Wilkes-Barre (now Harry Hill- man) Academy, and at Williston Seminary of Easthampton, Massachusetts. He then entered his father's employ and learned the milling business in all its branches, filling various positions up to general manager in 1887. which position he held until 1894, when the Miner-Hillard Milling Company was organized and he was made vice- president and general manager, and continued as such until the death of his father (see above) when he was made president. This concern op- erates five mills, making cereal products. The business has grown up largely under the direc- tion of Colonel Miner, and is by far the largest in the state.
He married, November 6, 1889. Hettie McNair Lonsdale, born in Wilkinson county, Mississippi. daughter of Lieut. Henry Holloway Lonsdale, of New Orleans, and his wife Helen Lea, daughter of Hon. James Neilson Lea, judge of the Louisiana supreme court, and his wife, Hetty Hart McNair. Lieutenant Lonsdale was born at Mills Point, Arkansas, in 1840. He was a cotton factor in New Orleans when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted March 6. 1862, for ninety days in the Fifth Company, Battalion of Washington Artillery of New Orleans, Confed- erate States Army, but owing to physical disabil- ity incurred in the battle of Shiloh he was honor- ably discharged from the service June 15. 1862. He returned to the army with the restoration of his health, and held the rank of lieutenant P. A. C. S., commanding the post at Woodville, Mis-
96
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
sissippi, in 1865, until the final surrender of the Confederate forces in that state. He died in 1873. Lieutenant Lonsdale was descended from an English family of that name. His father, Henry T. Lonsdale, was born in New York in 1809, while his family was visiting in the United States. He located at Mills Point, Arkansas, and formed the mercantile house of Lonsdale, Wal- ton & Company, and engaged in the grain trade. After years of successful business his house failed in the crash of 1837 when he removed to New Orleans, where he built up the largest cof- fee importing business in the south.
Colonel Miner has five children-Helen Lea, Elizabeth Ross, Robert Charles, Margaret Mer- cer and Hetty Lonsdale.
Colonel Miner is a Republican in politics. He joined Company D, Ninth Regiment Pennsyl- vania National Guard, in 1884, as private, and was promoted through the various grades to lieutenant and finally became captain of the same company. He was appointed by Governor Hast- ings in 1895 as general inspector of rifle practice with the rank of colonel. He served on the staff of Governor Hastings until 1898, when the Na- tional Guard of Pennsylvania was enlisted into the service of the United States. The Seventh Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, was then organized and he was commissioned colonel. The regiment was second in line to go to the war, and was fully equipped for the purpose, but its services were not needed. After being organ- ized for some months, and during this time at- tending the inauguration of Governor Stone, it was disbanded. This closed the military career of Colonel Miner, covering a period of twelve years. While in the military service he was a celebrated rifle and pistol shot and made the highest score of any member of the regiment. He was selected to represent the regiment on the brigade and state teams, where he held (at one time) the highest record for marksmanship in the state. He was for several years president of the Wilkes-Barre Board of Trade and of the Pennsylvania Millers' State Association. He is now president of the Pennsylvania Millers' Mu- tual Fire Insurance Company, director of the
Millers' National Federation, director of the Wyoming National Bank and other local institu- tions, member of the Westmoreland and Wyo- ming Valley Country Club, and of the Pennsyl- vania Society of the Sons of the Revolution.
Sidney Roby Miner, born July 28, 1864, graduated Bachelor of Arts from Harvard Uni- versity, 1888, studied law in the University of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar 1890. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Associa- tion, the American Bar Association, the Penn- sylvania Society Sons of the Revolution, and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, of which he has been recording secretary from 1894 to the present time ( 1905).
Charles Howard Miner, M. D., born July 5, 1868, graduated Bachelor of Science from Princeton University, 1890, and Doctor of Med- icine from the University of Pennsylvania, 1893. He also studied medicine at Heidelburg and Vienna. He served as assistant surgeon in the Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers dur- ing the Spanish-American war, 1898. He is a member of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania State, and the American Medical Associations, the Military Order of Foreign Wars, and a life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geolog- ical Society. On June 1, 1904, he married Grace Lea Shoemaker, daughter of Robert C. and Helen Lea (Lonsdale) Shoemaker, and sister of Mrs. Asher Miner. (See Shoemaker family.)
H. E. H.
CHARLES MINER, second son of Seth Miner and his wife Anna Charlton, and descen- dant in the sixth generation of Thomas Miner, the immigrant ancestor of the family in America, (See Miner family), was born in Norwich, Con- necticut, February 1, 1780.
His early education was limited to the nar- row opportunities afforded in the common schools, and at the age of seventeen years he went to New London and was apprenticed to the printer's trade in the office of The Connec- ticut Gasette and Commercial Intelligencer. In February, 1790, he came to Pennsylvania to take charge of certain lands held by his father
97
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
under the Connecticut title in (now) Jessup township, Susquehanna county, but then a part of Luzerne county. Here he found employment in sugar making, and gave needful attention to the lands entrusted to his charge, but his efforts at farming were accompanied with such serious obstacles and disappointments that he abandoned that pursuit in the summer of 1800 and came to Wilkes-Barre, where his elder brother Asher lived and with him he made his home. In the fall of that year he began to teach school, and devoted his leisure hours to study. He was thus employed two terms ('six months), after which he resolved to devote his attention to that branch of work with which he was most familiar, print- ing, and incidentally aspired to the higher branch of journalism, the editorial chair. With him in the past the newspaper had been his best teacher, and his early endeavors in his brother's office were rewarded with gratifying success, although the proprietor of the "Federalist" (his brother Asher) consented to publish his first contribu- tion with some hesitation ; but he afterward was gratified to learn that his "article" was reprinted in The United States Gasette of Philadelphia. Soon after this initial success (May 3, 1802), Charles became partner with his brother, and the Federalist was printed by "A. and C. Miner, Editors and Proprietors." In May, 1804, Charles became the sole owner of the establish- ment and changed the name of the paper to The Luzerne County Federalist and Susquehanna In- telligencer. The editor soon became an impor- tant figure in the social and political life of Wilkes-Barre.
He was elected a member of the first borough council; was one of the incorporators of the Wilkes-Barre academy in 1807, and served one year as one of its original board of trustees. In October, 1807, he was elected representative in the legislature, was re-elected in 1808, and again in 1812. In the legislature he early became a champion of the rights and liberties of the people ; was a zealous advocate of the promotion of do- mestic manufactures ; introduced the first reso- lution to exclude from circulation in Pennsyl- vania bank notes of small denomination from
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.