Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 19

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 19

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).

On December 1, 1825, in the Slocum House on the public square, the first brick building in Wilkes-Barre, by the Rev. Enoch Huntington, pastor of St. Stephen's. Episcopal Church from 1824 to 1827, William Sterling Ross and Ruth Tripp Slocum were united in marriage. She was the second child of Hon. Joseph and Sarah (Fell) Slocum, and was born on North Main street, near Jackson, Wilkes-Barre, December 5. 1804, in the home where her parents began their married life. She was a descendant in the eighth generation from Anthony and - (Harvey) Slocum, of Taunton, Massachusetts, 1637. Her

father, Joseph Slocum, was born at Wilkes-Barre, whither his father, Jonathan Slocum, had emi- grated from Warwick, Rhode Island, during the Revolutionary war, April 9, 1777, and married in the year 1800 Sarah Fell, who was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jesse and Hannah (Welding) Fell, of Wilkes-Barre, the former named, Jesse Fell, having been the one to whom most authorities on local history ascribe the honor of discovering the use of an- thracite coal for domestic purposes. William Sterling Ross died July 11, 1868, lacking just one month of being sixty-six years of age, in the same room, the southeast part of the Ross fam- ily mansion, in which he was born. His wife, Ruth Tripp (Slocum) Ross, passed away June 23, 1882.

Among the notable characters in the Ross family was Joseph (3), born December 28, 1717, eldest son of Josephi Ross (2) and wife Sarah Ut- ley. In early New England records he is called "Colonel" Ross, having won that title through heroic deeds. He was the most intimate friend of Gen. Israel Putnam, and when the latter crept into the wolf's den-an event so often mentioned in history-Colonel Ross held the rope which was fastened to Putnam's waist to draw his body out of the den if necessary. Colonel Ross died when quite young. Simeon Ross, born February 12, 1719, second son of Joseph and Sarah, was a patriot of the Revolution. He enlisted for the war, February 1, 1777, and fought in several bat- tles. At Germantown, October 4, 1777, he was reported missing, and never again was heard of. Benjamin Ross, of Windham, one of the same family, in a collateral branch, was captured by the British at Bunker Hill and died a prisoner of war. Sergeants Ebenezer and Thomas Ross and Nathaniel Ross, all Revolutionary patriots, were nephews of Joseph Ross (2) and his wife Sarah Uhley. H. E. H.

ATHERTON FAMILY. The Athertons of the Wyoming valley trace their American an- cestry to James Atherton (1) a member of a dis- tinguished and ancient family of Lancashire, England. His wife's name was Hannah. He was

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

first in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and after- ward in Lancaster. He had a son James (2). who had a son James (3), who had a son James (4). and who sold his lands in Lancaster. 1740. and moved away. A James Atherton was in Coventry, Connecticut, about that time, and prob- ably was identical with James (3) of Lancaster, but he, too, moved away to some place unknown.

A James Atherton settled in Wyoming. Penn- sylvania. in 1762, and a James Atherton, junior. settled in Kingston in 1769. They were un- doubtedly Connecticut Athertons, although their connection is not definitely traced in family, town, or parish records ; but the James Atherton who died in 1790 and lies buried in Forty Fort is probably James Atherton (4) born in 1816. and whose father sold his lands in Lancaster in 1740, and then moved away. James Atherton (4). son of James (3), married Elizabeth Bor- den, born September, 1718, died March 25, 1802. They had two children, the second being James (5), born September 19. 1751, died May 5, 1828, buried at Galena, Ohio; married May 3. 1774. Lydia Washburn, born May 16, 1757. died June 20, 1847, buried at Galena. Ohio. James and Lydia had thirteen children, of whom Elisha. born in Wyoming. May 7, 1786, died April 2, 1853. was the sixth. Elisha married February 3. 1828. Caroline Ann Ross, daughter of Gen. William Ross and his wife Elizabeth Sterling, married October 10, 1790. Eliza Ross Atherton, daughter of Elisha Atherton and Caroline Ann Ross his wife, married Charles Abbott Miner, of Wilkes-Barre. H. E. H. :

ISAAC M. THOMAS. Peter Thomas, of "Springtown." Pennsylvania, married at John Simcock's house in Ridley, February 15. 1686. Sarah Stedman and afterwards settled in Willis- town, where Peter died April 5. 1722. Their son Peter married in 1711, Elizabeth Goodwin and had children, among whom was Isaac Thomas, born April 21, 1721, married, March 16, 1744. Mary Townsend, daughter of Jolin Townsend. of Westtown. Their eleven children were : Phebe. Enos, Nathan, Hannah, Isaac, Mary,

Jonathan Townsend, Thomas, Martha and Mor- decai Thomas.

Mordecai Thomas, born July 21, 1767, mar- ried, October 20, 1796, Lydia Hoopes, daughter of Ezra and Ann Hoopes, of Westtown, and had children : Isaac, Ezra, Emmor. George, Jesse, Hoopes, Mary Ann, Lydia, Eliza and Mordecai H. Thomas.

Isaac Thomas, M. D., eldest son of Mordecai Thomas and wife Lydia Hoopes, born in Willis- town township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1797. He married. March 3. 1824. Ann Charlton Miner, eldest daughter of Hon. Charles Miner, and wife Letitia Wright. He died at West Chester, May 18. 1879. Their children were: Caroline Darlington Thomas, married John Lent, of West Chester, but had no children, and Letitia Miner Thomas, married Judge William Butler, of Chester, Pennsylvania, and had these six children : Annie. Mary, Carrie, Nellie, William and George Thomas. Dr. Thomas was never physically strong and was un- fitted for the hard work of the farm or the little woolen factory near by, in which occupation his father and brothers were engaged. It was there- fore decided that Isaac should be fitted for a pro- fession, and by the united efforts and loving sacrifice of all he was enabled to study medicine and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1820. His thesis was entitled "Phlegmasia Doleres." He located in West Chester, Chester county, where he practiced his profession through a long and useful career, and finally by the weight of years was compelled to rest. He was a skillful phy- sician, and by his gentle, kind and courteous man- ners won the love of all who knew him to a de- gree that rarely falls to the lot of man. His brothers, excepting Jesse, and sisters settled within a few miles of the old homestead farm in Chester county, and there they spent their lives, reared their children, and there they laid down the cares of life.

Jesse Thomas, youngest of Mordecai Thomas's sons who grew to maturity, was born October 27, 1804; married. June 25. 183S. Ellen

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Elizabeth Miner, youngest daughter of Charles Miner and Letitia Wright, and thus the houses of Thomas and Miner were doubly united. Jesse Thomas was by trade a tanner, and followed that occupation a few years. It was not, how- ever, congenial to his tastes and he soon aban- doned it and went with a Mr. Baker to what then was called "the west," then a dense forest, but now is the flourishing city of Altoona, Blair county, Pennsylvania. He was with Mr. Baker several years as manager of his iron furnace, and then entered the iron business on his own account at the Hope furnace, near McVeytown, Juniata county, Pennsylvania. Later he estab- lished the Isabella furnace and Ellen forge at McVeytown. He was successful in his business until the removal by congress of the duty on manufactured iron caused the crash of 1846-47, which swept away his small fortune, but with indomitable courage he met the situation, settled his affairs as best he could, placed his family under the protection of his brother, Dr. Isaac Thomas, of West Chester, joined the tide of west- ward emigration and was a "49'er" in the gold fields of California. In 1851 he returned to the east. In the spring of 1852 he removed with his family to Plains township, Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, and in 1868 removed thence to Wilkes- Barre, where he died February 14, 1876, aged seventy-one years. He was a man of unusual ability and good practical sense. Mrs. Thomas survived him and still lives at the ripe age of ninety years.

Jesse Thomas and Ellen Elizabeth Miner had children, as follows: Ann Charlton, born April 15, 1839. died January 27. 1843. Mary Letitia, born April 5. 1841, married. October 8, 1874. William H. Sturdevant, of Wilkes-Barre, civil engineer, member of Wyoming Historical-Geo- logical Society, and Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution. They had two children : Thomas Kirkbride, born August 27. 1876, B. S., Princeton University, 1901 ; A. M., Colum- bia University, 1901; and Jesse Thomas, born October 7, 1877. Isaac M., born February 1, 1844, married, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Sep- tember 11, 1872, Sally Hollenback Dunlap (after

her marriage Mrs. Thomas dropped the '"Hollen- back" and wrote her name Sally D. Thomas), daughter of the Rev. Robert Dunlap and Ellen E. Cist. Children : Eleanor Natalie, born Sep- tember 29, 1873, married May 1, 1900, Dr. Maurice B. Ahlborn, of Wilkes-Barre ; they have one child, Hervey Dunlap Ahlborn, born April 14, 1901; Hervey Dunlap, born May 29, 1875, died May 5, 1883; Louise Miner, born March I, 1879, graduated A. B., 1901, Bryn Mawr ; Percy Rutter, born April 9. 1882: Jessie Dunlap, born March 8, 1884. Sally Brinton, born June 29, 1845. Phebe Rothrock, born February 17, 1847, died June 26, 1890. Ellen Miner, born January 25, 1852, married, April 25, 1877, William Mar- shall Fitts Round; they are residing (1904) at Nantucket, Massachusetts. William M. F. Round, author, was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, March 26, 1845. Received an academic education, entered Harvard Medical School, but did not graduate owing to ill health. He was United States commissioner to World's Fair in Vienna in 1873, having charge of the New Eng- land department. Upon his return to his native land he devoted himself to journalism and litera- ture. He gave much attention to prison reform, and in 1883 was corresponding secretary of the Prison Association of New York. In 1885, with Franklin B. Sanborn, Francis Wayland and others he organized the National Prison Associa- tion of the United States, and was elected its secretary, and in 1886 was sent as its delegate from the United States to the International Peni- tentiary Congress in Rome, Italy. In 1887-88 he laid out the general scheme for the Burn- ham Industrial Farm, an institution for unruly boys, based upon the principles that have domi- nated similar institutions in France and Germany. Among his published works are: "Achsah, a New England Life Study," 1876; "Child Marion Abroad," 1876; "Torn and Mended," 1877 ; "Hal, the Story of a Clodhopper." 1878; "Rose- croft." 1880. No children. Elizabeth, born April 12, 1857, married April 12, 1878. Charles F. Richardson, professor of English literature at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. No children. H. E. H.

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

LOVELAND FAMILY. The Lovelands of the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania are descen- dants of Thomas Loveland, who settled at Weth- ersfield (now Glastonbury) Connecticut, previous to 1670, and who was granted in 1674 the last piece of land of the first survey in Connecticut of lands purchased from the Indians. The first Lovelands in New England of whose existence there is any knowledge were Robert of Boston, John of Hartford, Thomas of Wethersfield, and the "Widow" Loveland who is first mentioned in the early records as one of the litigant parties in an action for trespass. Family tradition has it that Robert and John were sons of Widow Love- land, and that Thomas was the son of John. Tradition also says that the widow's husband died on the passage to America, and further, that one other son was drowned in the Connecticut. These traditions are supported by evidences of foundation in fact, and there is little room to doubt that Thomas was the son of John and the grandson of the Widow Loveland. Thomas, however, was the founder of that branch of the Loveland family whose descendants came to live in the Wyoming region of Pennsylvania and from whom there have descended some of the most worthy men and estimable women in that his- toric valley.

From Thomas of Wethersfield and Glaston- bury the line of descent is to John (2), 1683- 1750, John (3), 1710-51 : Joseph (4), 1741-1813, the latter having the honor of being the first rep- resentative of his family surname to visit the re- gions of Pennsylvania. . He came twice to the Wyoming valley in search of a home, once before the Revolution and once afterward; but on ac- count of the uncertainty of the Susquehanna Land Company titles, and the contest concerning them, he returned to Connecticut and sought a home elsewhere. In one of his visits, however, he was a participant in some of the skirmishes so frequent with the Pennsylvanians and the Yan- kees, and every instinct of his nature impelled him to take up arms with the latter. He re- moved from Wethersfield with his family in 1776 to Hanover, on the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut, and thence in 1779 to the

town of Norwich, on the Vermont side of the river. On May 7, 1777, while living in New Hampshire, he enlisted in Col. Jonathan Chase's regiment to reinforce the continental army at Ticonderoga and other points in the Champlain valley. There were many Lovelands who served during the Revolution ; the early Connec- ticut records abound in them, and their names are found in all branches of the service from the beginning to the end of the war. There was Asa, died in the army at Roxbury in 1775 ; and David, Elisha, Jr., Elisha (enlisted for three years) ; Elizur ; Gad (died in the army in New York, September 6, 1776), Joel (made a prisoner at Quebec, 1776), Jonathan (died in the service in New York, 1776) ; Lazarus; Levi, (enlisted for three years) ; Lot, Jr., enlisted in militia : Pel- etiah, Samuel, Solomon; Thomas (enlisted for three years or during the war) ; and Thomas. Jr. These were of the Glastonbury Lovelands, while the state records give the names of many other patriots of the same family name.

Joseph Loveland (4), was born Glastonbury, April 14, 1747: married November 12, 1772, Mercy Bigelow, and died Norwich, Vermont, September 8. 1813. Mercy was born Marlboro, Connecticut, November 23, 1753. died Norwich, August 3, 1832. They had thirteen children, nearly all of whom grew to maturity, married, and with their families settled in various parts of the country. Two of their sons-William and Elijah-came to the Wyoming valley in 1812, in the early part of the second war with Great Britain, but upon the death of his father in that year William returned to Vermont, and to the care of his mother and her young children and the management of the home farm. Elijah re- mained in Pennsylvania and settled at Kingston, and thus was the pioneer in fact of the Loveland family in the valley, although his father had vis- ited the region more than thirty years previous.

Elijah Loveland (5), eighth child of Jo- seph and Mercy (Bigelow) Loveland, was born in Norwich, Vermont, February 5, 1788. With his elder brother William, he came to Pennsyl- vania in 1812, settled in Kingston, where in July, 1812, they purchased two lots of land for $650.

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

In the next year Elijah bought his brothers' in- terest. A little later another brother, John Love- land, came into the valley, but soon joined with the tide of westward emigration and seated him- self in Huron county, Ohio. Elijah was a farmer by occupation, and produced from his lands as fair crops as did his neighbors, but beyond the demand for farm products in the immediate vi- cinity there was no other market than the cities down the Susquehanna, and they were not espec- ially profitable ; so Elijah, with true Yankee in- stinct, turned his attention to other pursuits. He understood the art of distilling, and supplied the apothecaries of the valley with peppermint and other_essences ; he raised broom corn and made brooms as long as he lived, and he was also a brick maker, and carried on the business until 1

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1834. No man in the township was more indus- trious than Elijah Loveland, and he succeeded in gaining a fair competency, but a portion of his property was sacrificed in saving his brother-in- law from financial ruin. His own loss was se- vere, but he weathered the storm and eventually re-established himself in comfort. About 1835 he journeyed into the west with a view to chang- ing his place of residence, but returned to Kings- ton, and in 1836 purchased the Minor Roberts farm of fifty acres. He was the first elder in the Presbyterian Church established in Kingston, which was the first church of that denomination in Wyoming valley. (Elijah Loveland married at Kingston, June 1, 1815, Mary Buckingham, born April 26, 1793, died Kingston, March 24, 1855. Mary Buckingham) was born in Lebanon, Con- necticut, a descendant in the seventh generation of Thomas Buckingham, the Puritan, who ar- rived in Boston, June 26, 1637, from England, in company with Eaton and Hopkins. London mer- chants, and Davenport and Prudden, who were ministers of the gospel. Mary either accompan- ied her brother Henry from Connecticut to Kingston about 1804, or followed him a few years later, crossing the mountains on horseback, and remained with his family until her marriage with Elijah Loveland. Later on two of her younger sisters came to Kingston and made their home with Elijah and Mary until they were mar-

ried ; Matilda married 1822, John Bennett ; Fanny married 1832, Stephen Vaughn, and died 1833. (See Vaughn family.)

Elijah and Mary Loveland had eight children, born in Kingston :

I. Thomas Buckingham, born December 20, 1817 : married (first) Sarah Baird, and ( second) Emily Cady.

2. William, born August 5, 1821 ; married Lydia Hurlbut.

3. George, born November 5, 1823 ; married Julia Lord Noyes.

4. Henry Buckingham, born November 17, 1825; married (first) Mary Alma Baird; (sec- ond) Nancy Hurlbut ; and (third) Flora Amelia Loveland, daughter John Loveland.

5. John, born June 23, 1828 ; married Helen M. Strong.

6. Mary Elizabeth, born April 20, 1833 ; married Henry Martyn Hoyt (late Governor Hovt).

/Thomas Buckingham Loveland (6), eldest son of Elijah (5), and Mary Loveland, was born in Kingston, December 20, 1817, died June II, 1891 ; married first, October 21, 1852, Sarah Baird, of Hiner's Run, Pennsylvania, at Cook's Run, August 16, 1817, died April 3, 1863 ; mar- ried second, at Arkport, New York, May 4, 1864, Emily Cady, born August 16, 1843.

The early life of Thomas was spent in the Wyoming valley. He was given a good educa- tion in the old Kingston academy, and also in Captain Allen Partridge's famous military school in Norwich, Vermont. When he first ventured in business pursuits he was employed for three years by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany (1836-38) in weighing coal and measuring and counting lumber along the Lehigh river. Then for several years he managed and worked the farm owned by his uncle, John Bennett, of Kingston, and upon the death of his own father he and his brother William administered the es- tate and carried on the farm. Chiefly by thrift and partly by inheritance he acquired some means, which he invested in timber land in the region of the West Branch valley, where he after- ward lived for several years. He became an ex-

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

tensive lumberman, and also was the owner of a grist mill, and upon his removal to Lock Haven in 1870 he engaged in buying and selling lumber, and also operated a general woodworking estab- lishment, having for a time a business partner, John G. Gessler. Mr. Loveland died June II, 1892. His children were:

I. Mary, born May 21, 1855 ; married He- man Dowd.

2. Nannie, born June 7, 1858; died July 14, I860.

Edward Cady, born February 17. 1866. 3.

4. Helen Stoddard, born February 3, 1868; Presbyterian missionary at Kamazawa, Japan.

5. Lester Cady, born July 19. 1870: died May 8, 1877. 6. Robert Buckingham, born April 24, 1873.

7. Ruth. born September 6. 1875.

8. Palmer Cady, born October 25, 1877.

William Loveland, second son of Elijah and Mary (Buckingham) Loveland, was born King's- ton, August 5, 1821, and died March 25. 1898. He married June 27, 1856. Lydia Hurlbut, born May 20, 1829, daughter of Christopher Hurlbut, granddaughter of Christopher and great-grand- daughter of Deacon Johu Hurlbut, a patriot of the Revolution.

William Loveland, during a long and success- ful carecr as a farmer and business man, showed intelligence and thrift in all his undertakings. He managed his farm according to scientific principles and with common sense and business methods that would assure success in any under- taking. Besides this he was an untiring worker, though he always suffered from rheumatism, the result of over-exertion in his youth. He contin- ued the business his father had been engaged in -farming in the summer and broom-making in the winter. which developed into an extensive business. He was always progressive, and was the pioneer market gardner in Wyoming valley. He first leased and afterward purchased the interest of most of the other heirs in his father's estate. and to this added by the purchase of adjoining lands. He was generous in the treatment of his family and friends and all who were dependent

on him. Living at the homestead, his house was always the center for the family life, and all who came received an hospitable welcome. He was identified with all movements for the betterment of the community, and while never prominent in politics he was always mindful of his duties as a citizen. He was a leader in the work of the church, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Kingston for more than a quarter of a century. For many years he was a trustee and one of the largest supporters of the church. 'His charities were many, but so unobtrusive that even his family often did not know of them. He was simple and frugal in his manner of life. He aimed to appear only what he was, an honest Christian man, employing the talents with which God had endowed him for the good of others. Mr. Loveland was a life member of the Wy- oming Historical and Geological Society.

"Deacon" John Hurlbut, the grandfather of Mrs. William Loveland, was a descendant in the fifth generation of Thomas Hurlbut, who came to America in 1653 with Captain Gardiner, an en- gineer in the employ of the Connecticut patentees, to build and take charge of a fort at Saybrook in the Connecticut colony. Thomas served under Gardiner as a soldier at the fort, and also with the Colonial military forces in the expeditions against the Pequots, 1637. "Deacon" John Hurl- but visited the Wyoming Valley as early as May, 1773. having bought a "right" in the Connecti- cut Susquehanna Company. He sold his farm in Groton, Connecticut, in the summer of 1777 and in the following spring, taking with him his wife and family, stock and household goods, left his New England home and started for the Connecti- cut colony on the Susquehanna. Camp fever at- tacking the family, they were delayed on the way. and so escaped the Wyoming massacre. Meeting fugitives leaving the valley, he turned aside with his family and stayed for a year at Shawangunk, New York. In 1779 they proceeded to the home prepared for them by the older sons on the Suis- quehanna. John Hurlbut represented the county of Westmoreland as deputy to the Connecticut assembly in 1779-80-81. Christopher, son of John Hurlbut, was born at Groton, Connecticut, May

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

30, 1757. Though young he served one year in the Revolutionary army with Washington in New Jersey in 1776, and received an honorable dis- charge. He came to the Wyoming valley in ad- vance of his father's family in 1779. He was a farmer and surveyor, and made some of the earliest surveys in this region. His work_was exact and his notes and maps are valuable. He married Elizabeth Mann, at Wilkes-Barre, in 1782. In 1797 Christopher Hurlbut removed with his family to Arkport, New York, taking with him his son, Christopher, Jr., Lydia's father. Christopher, Jr., was born in Hanover, Penn- sylvania, December 17, 1794. He was a farmer, and lived at Arkport, New York, until his death, February 1, 1875.

William and Lydia Loveland had seven chil- dren :

I. Ellen Tiffany, born August 31, 1857, died October 31, 1858.

2. Mary Buckingham, born September 16, 1859, died 1895 : married October 4, 1894, Rev. George N. Makely.

3. Fanny Vaughn, born July 23, 1861, mar- ried May 22, 1889, Robert P. Brodhead, born October 12, 1860. (See Brodhead family).

-4. Elizabeth Shepard, born March 6, 1864, of Kingston.

5. Emelie, born August 25, 1865, died Oc- tober 14, 1898; married the late Loren M. Luke, both drowned in the sinking of the "Mohegan" off the English coast.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 19

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 988

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988