Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 22

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 22
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 22


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).


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Helen Helm, grandmother of Rebecca Cox, wife of Peter Cock, was a daughter of Israel Helm, captain and trader at Passyunk 1661 ; superintendent of the fur trade 1664; interpreter to the Indians; justice of Upland court 1674, 1676, 1680 ; provincial councillor May, 1667. An- drew H. McClintock, Esq., possesses in his fam- ily a table which has descended to him from his ancestor, Peter Larrson Cock, the provincial councillor.


H. E. H.


FARNHAM FAMILY. Among the early Farnhams of Hampton, Connecticut, and of all New England, were those who wrote their sur- name Farnum, and also Farnam, but they were all of the same English family, and all doubtless descendants of Ralph Farnham, the immigrant ancestor of the Farnham families of America of the particular line under consideration here.


I. Ralph Farnham, born 1603, sailed from Southampton, England, April 6, 1635, in the brig "James," and after a long voyage of fifty- eight days landed at Boston, Massachusetts, June 3, 1635. His age is mentioned on the ship's rec- ord as thirty-two years, and that of his wife Alice, who accompanied. him, as twenty-eight. They had five children: Mary, born England


,


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1628; Thomas, born England 1631 ; Ralph, born England 1633, of whom later; Ephraim, born Andover, Massachusetts, 1635; Sarah, born America, date unknown, subsequently married in Andover, Massachusetts, April 26, 1658, George Abbott.


II. Ralph Farnham, son of Ralph and Alice Farnham, born England, 1633. died Andover, Massachusetts, January 8, 1692 ; married, Ando- ver. October 26, 1658, Elizabeth Holt, daughter of Nicholas Holt, who came to America in the same vessel with the Farnhams. Their children were : Sarah, born February, 1661 ; married Ben- jamin Abbott ; Ralph, born June 1, 1662, of whom later : John, born April 1, 1664, married, April, 1684. Elizabeth Parker; Henry, born December 2, 1666, died May, 1683; Hannah, born Decem- ber 7. 1668: Thomas, born July 14. 1670; Ephraim, born October II, 1675, married Pris- cilla Holt.


III. Ralph Farnham, eldest son of Ralph Farnham and his wife Elizabeth Holt, born June I, 1662, married, Andover, Massachusetts, Oc- tober 9. 1685. Sarah Sterling. Their children were: Sarah, born May 5, 1686; Henry, born September 15, 1687, removed to Windham, Con- necticut ; Ralph, born May 25, 1689 : Daniel, born January 21, 1691; Abigail, born May 3, 1692; William, born August 5, 1693, of whom later ; Nathaniel, born July 25, 1695 : Barachias, born March 16, 1697 ; Benjamin, born March 14, 1699; Joseph (or Josiah), born February 4, 1701.


IV. William Farnham, fourth son of Ralph Farnham and his wife Sarah Sterling, born Au- gust 5, 1693, was the father of the Farnhams who, with their sons, were such active figures in colonial history during the war of the Revolu- tion : but of this William, little is known. He re- moved to Windham, Connecticut, and as his will mentions carpenter's tools, it may be assumed that he was a mechanic. He married, Windham. Connecticut, 1715, Hannah Flint, of Salem, Mas- sachusetts. Their children were: William W., born April 20, 1720, of whom later : Zebediah, born June 18, 1721, of whom later ; Hannah, born October 27, 1723, married Jonathan Rogers : Isaiah, born July 1, 1726, died November 1, 1729;


Elijah, born June 16. 1729, will probated Feb- ruary 29, 1780; Isaiah, born April 7, 1731; Eunice, born February 13. 1735.


V. William W. Farnham, eldest son of Wil- liam and Hannah Farnham, born April 20, 1720, died March 14, 1777, married, June 23, 1742, Martha Fuller, daughter of Stephen and Han- nah (Moulton) Fuller, of Hampton, Connecti- cut. This Fuller family is not that of the May- flower Fullers, but of Lieut. Thomas Fuller, who was the ancestor of Margaret Fuller, the cele- brated authoress who married the Marquis D'Ossoli, an Italian nobleman, and lived in Italy .. On her return to America the vessel was wrecked at sea and she, with her husband and child, were lost. Lieut. Thomas Fuller had a son Thomas, who had a son Stephen, who married Hannah Moulton. July 16, 1698, a William Moulton bought land in Windham, and he probably was the father of Hannah Moulton, who married Ste- phen Fuller, whose daughters Martha and Mary married William and Zebediah Farnham.


William W. Farnham and his sons Ralph and Daniel were soldiers in the Revolutionary army. William was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island, was confined in the same prison ship with his nephew. Sergeant Daniel Farnham, and died there. Stephen Farnham, son of William W .. enlisted for three years, or during the war, in Captain Parke's company, Second Connecticut line, and was taken prisoner July 2, 1777. Ralph Farnham, son of William, called the "biggest man" in the Connecticut troops, was badly wounded at White Plains battle, but his cousin, "Bijah" Fuller, a private in the same company. much smaller but noted for his strength, carried him off the field on his back. Occasionally he would stop to rest, would point his rifle with un- erring precision at the foe, and then would "trudge" on with his burden, finally bearing him away in safety. "Diah" (Zebediah) Farnham was called the "bully" of the regiment, not in an op- probrious sense, but as a general favor, etc. Wil- liam W. and Martha (Fuller) Farnham had among other children, Stephen, Ralph and Daniel.


VI. Lieut. Zebediah Farnham, second son of William and Hannah Farnham, born June 18.


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1721, died August 8, 1814, married, July 27, 1743, Mary Fuller, sister of Martha and daughter of Stephen and Hannah ( Moulton) Fuller.


Lieut. Zebedialı Farnham and five of his sons, Zebediah, Jr., Levi, Ebenezer, Daniel and Thomas Farnham, served in the Revolutionary war. Zeb- ediah Farnham, the elder, was first lieutenant of the Eighth Connecticut Militia until December, 1775, and was first lieutenant in Colonel Hunt- ington's Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment until wounded, and afterward was lieutenant of ma- rines on the American ship "Providence" from December, 1779, to the close of the war. Zeb- ediah, Jr., was private in the company of which his father was lieutenant. Levi was corporal in the Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment, was made prisoner at the battle of Long Island, and died of starvation on board of a British prison ship on Christmas day, 1776. Daniel Farnham was sergeant in the Seventeenth Connecticut Regi- ment, was made prisoner at the battle of Long Island, and died of ship fever, caused by foul air, insufficient and bad food. January 9, 1777. but not in the same ship in which his brother Levi was confined. Ebenezer Farnham was private in Cap- tain Branch's company, and was wounded in the retreat from New York. Thomas Farnham was private in a company at the "Lexington Alarm," and afterward in the Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment ; was wounded in the arm ; subsequently was appointed by Colonel Mcclellan first ser- geant in Captain Durkee's company of "Matross."


Zebediah and Mary (Fuller) Farnham had children : Mary, born July 19. 1744. died June 22, 1745 ; Zebediah, born January 10, 1746. mar- ried, November, 1768, Mary Hebard ; Levi, born August 13, 1748, of whom later ; Ebenezer, born December 17, 1750, married, March 3, 1773, Jo- hanna Benjamin ; Daniel, born July 19, 1752, died January 9, 1777: Thomas, born November 9, 1754, died March 6, 1842, married Benjamin Durkee, and had ten children : Mary, born Au- gust, 1757, married Silas Spencer ; Elijah, born December 6, 1759: Irene, born September 25. 1761. Calvin, born October 22, 1763, married, 1797, Mrs. Bathsheba Jewell ; Olive, born No-


vember 12, 1765, died, unmarried, July 21, 1819; Elisha born September 24, 1768.


VII. Levi Farnham, second son of Lieut. Zebediah and Mary (Fuller) Farnham, born Windham, Connecticut, August 13, 1748, died December 25, 1776, a prisoner on a British prison ship in New York harbor, married, about 1772, Dorcas Moulton, born about 1748. daughter of Samuel and Molly (Haynes) Moulton, of Wales, Massachusetts.


Samuel Moulton, father of Dorcas, who mar- ried Levi Farnham, was a descendant of Robert Moulton, who emigrated from England to Amer- ica in 1629, with letters to Governor Endicott commending him as a shipbuilder. He brought with him six workmen, and was at once put in charge of shipbuilding work at Salem, which then was the principal maritime port of the col- ony. Robert was a man of consequence in early Massachusetts history, and was deputy and rep- resentative of Salem in 1637. He evidently was opposed to the witchcraft delusions which plagued the Salem people, and it was he who "watched" Susannah Sheldon, "who claimed that she was bewitched by Rev. George Burroughs," and dis- covered the contradiction in her actions and testi- mony. He was a follower of Ann Hutchinson, and one of those proscribed from April 6, 1637. He died 1655. Robert Moulton, Jr., son of Rob- ert, of Salem, came accredited from Gravesend, England, to make salt and plant vineyards, and he, too, became a prominent man in Salem. He removed to Brimfield, Massachusetts, and was the first representative from that town in the general court, and a member of Governor Endi- cott's council. Robert, Jr., had a son Ebenezer, who was lieutenant of militia and commanded a company during the early wars with the In- dians. Ebenezer's children were Samuel, born June 14, 1714: Freeborn, born April 3, 1717, and John, born February 2, 1721. Samuel, the eldest son, married, January 30, 1739, Molly Haynes, of Wales, Massachusetts, and had chil- dren: Mary, Samuel, born February 24, 1742: . Robert, married Judith Morgan: Lois, married Shubael Wales : Dorcas, married Levi Farnham,


.


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Alsmanden Framlaw


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supra; Lydia, born April 30, 1753; Solomon, born January 29, 1758, and John.


The children of Levi and Dorcas ( Moulton) Farnham were: Levi, born March 20, 1774, died May 10, 1853, ten children; Samuel, born De- cember 16, 1775, of whom later.


VIII. Capt. Samuel Farnham, second son of Levi and Dorcas (Moulton) Farnham, born Hampton, Connecticut, December 16, 1775, died August 20, 1822 ; married in Oxford, New York, Sarah Balcome, daughter of Harry Balcome, born May 21, 1780, died February 6, 1859. He removed from Hampton to New London, Con- necticut, and thence to Oxford, Chenango county, New York, where he was an early settler among the New Englanders who colonized that part of the state. Captain Farnham was stationed during the war of 1812 at Fort Niagara, New York. Samuel and Sarah (Balcom) Farnham had George, born May 5, 1800, died February 4, 1859, married Susan Gibson ; Epaphras Miller, born September 14, 1801, died October 2, 1805 : John Perry, born November 12, 1803, of whom later : Julia Ann, born 1806, died in infancy; Alexander H., born December 29, 1807, died April 19, 1858, in Pennsylvania ; Charles Ed- ward, born July 17, 1810, died October 2, 18II ; Samuel H., born February 18, 1813; Frederick W., born May 15, 1815, died March 10, 1897; Charles, born April 18, 1817; Sarah D., born August 24, 1819, died June 15, 1820; Susan, died 1826.


IX. Dr. John Perry Farnham, third son of Samuel and Sarah ( Balcom) Farnham, was born in Oxford, New York, November 12, 1803, died in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1871. He became a practicing physician. He removed when a young man to Carbondale, in Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, where most of his active professional and business life was spent. On account of poor health he gave up his med- ical practice and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He married, July 22. 1827, Mary Frances Steere, born Providence, Rhode Island, February 13. 1808, died Wilkes-Barre, April 8, 1888, daughter


of Mark Steere1 and his wife, Miss Eddy. They- had children: John Steere, born July 21, 1828,. died unmarried 1863: Sarah, born February 2,. 1831, died Oxford, New York, April 12, 1832 ;. Alexander, born January 12. 1834, of whom later : Clarence, born July 15, 1837. died June 17, 1900; Sarah Elizabeth, born February 21. 1846, married, June 19, 1887, Rev. Benjamin Henry Abbott, born Barre, Massachusetts, graduated A. B. Amherst College, 1875 ; a cler -. gyman of Protestant Episcopal Church, ordained. deacon 1860, priest 1861 : both now living in. Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Mr. Abbott was rec -- tor of Trinity Church, Carbondale, 1861-66; Grace Church. White, Long Island, 1866-78; St. Johnland, New York, 1879-84; in charge of churches in Susquehanna and Bradford county, Pennsylvania, 1884-1905.


X. Alexander Farnham, second son of Dr. John Perry Farnham and his wife, Mary Frances Steere, born in Carbondale, January 12, 1834,


I. Mark Steere, of Providence, Rhode Island, and afterwards of Norwich, New York, for several years previous to the war of 1812-15 was engaged in the West India trade, and during that war was captured in his own ship, the "Comet." He was ketp a prisoner at. Jamaica, West Indies, for about a year, and was subse- quently released by reason of his ship being captured. in neutral waters. After the war he removed to Nor- wich, New York, where his father owned a large body of land, including the site of the present village. Stephen Steere, the father of Mark Steere, was one of the judges of Rhode Island, 1787-95, and his grand- father, Richard Steere, was justice, 1765-80; chief jus- tice of the supreme court of that state, 1780-87. Mark Steere, born Gloucester, Rhode Island, August II, 1772, married October 1, 1795, Betsy Eddy, daughter of Jon- athan. He was a son of Stephen and Rizpah (Smith) Steere, the son of Richard and Jean (Aldrich) Steere. This Richard, born June 3, 1707, died October 16, 1797. aged ninety years, four months and thirteen days. He- was son of Thomas and Mary (Arnold) Steere, deputy of the general court, and grandson of John and Hannah ( Wickenden) Steere, of Providence, Rhode Island, born 1634. died August 27, 1724. Mark Steere was a man of large heart and public spirit. Among other deeds of kindness he generously donated to Norwich, New York, for the erection of a park for the use of the public, the land on which "East Park," of that city, is. laid out.


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married, July 18, 1865, Augusta Dorrance, daughter of Rev. John Dorrance, D. D., and his wife Penelope Mercer. (See Dorrance Fam- ily.) He has resided in Wilkes-Barre since No- vember, 1852. He was educated in Madison Academy, Waverly, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pennsylvania. The late Hon. Winthrop W. Ketchum, who during the Civil war was a distinguished member of the Pennsylvania state senate, afterwards a mem- ber of the United States house of representatives, and at the time of his death in 1879 United States judge for the western district of Pennsyl- vania, was at this time one of the professors of Wyoming Seminary and was Mr. Farnham's first Latin teacher. Mr. Farnham then became a student in the State and National Law School, at Ballston Spa, New York, where he graduated at the age of eighteen, and later read law in the office of Fuller & Harding, in Wilkes-Barre, the firm consisting of the late Hon. Henry M. Fuller and the late ex-Judge Garrick M. Hard- ing. He was admitted to the bar January 13, 1855. In the beginning of the year 1857 he and the late ex-Gov. Henry M. Hoyt formed a law partnership which continued until near the close of 1860. From the time of his admission to the bar to the present he has been actively en- gaged in his profession in Luzerne county. Mr. Farnham served as first sergeant in Capt. Stan- ley Woodward's company, H, Third Pennsyl- vania Regiment Militia, Antietam campaign, 1862, and first lieutenant Capt. Samuel Finch's company, Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Militia, 1863. He was also assistant adjutant general to Col. William Brisbane, commanding a Pennsylvania brigade in Gen. William F. Smith's division, 1863. He was in 1870 the Republican candidate for district attorney, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent. Three years later he was again the nominee of his party for the same office, and was elected. At the end of his term his name was presented as a candidate for the Republican nomination for congress, but he withdrew his name before the convention met.


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Mr. Farnham's name was prominently men- tioned in 1874-77-79 in connection with the of-


fice of additional law judge both in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, and again in connec- tion with the congressional nomination, but these honors he also declined. He was a delegate to the national Republican convention at Chi- cago in 1880 which nominated General Garfield for the presidency, and was an ardent supporter of Mr. Blaine's candidacy. On the death of the late Hon. A. T. McClintock, in 1891, Mr. Farn- ham was elected to succeed him as president of the Luzerne Bar Association, and he has held this position ever since. He was also a dele- gate to the Republican national convention at Minneapolis in 1892 which nominated President Harrisonf for a second term, and was the Penn- sylvania member of the committee appointed to notify the president. Mr. Farnham is a life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geolog- ical Society. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Farnham had the following children :


I. John Dorrance, born Wilkes-Barre, De- cember 28, 1867; educated Wilkes-Barre public schools, Harry Hillman Academy and Yale Uni- versity ; graduated A. B. 1890 ; attended Harvard Law School one year, 1892-93; read law with his father, and admitted to practice 1893; now practicing with his father in Wilkes-Barre.


2. Stella Mercer, born Wilkes-Barre May 4, 1873; married Samuel Dexter Warriner and lives in Wilkes-Barre.


3. Hamilton, born Wilkes-Barre, December 16, 1877: married Laura Hand; lives in New York City. H. E. H.


HILLMAN FAMILY. Richard Hillinan, of the English branch of the Hillman family un- der consideration here, was born in 1659 and died in 1705. He went from Holland to London, England, with William III in 1687. This Rich- ard Hillman had a son John Hillman, born in England, 1694, died there 1760, who had two sons -Henry Hillman, born in England, 1725, died in America, 1790, and Richard Hillman, born in England. 1731, died in America. 1773. These sons, Henry and Richard, emigrated to America in 1748, settled in Philadelphia, and were the progenitors of this branch of the Hillman family


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in the United States, Henry being the ancestor of the particular branch treated in these annals. Henry married, but the name of his wife is not now known. He had five sons, the youngest of whom was Joseph Hillman, who married Mary Baker, and had three sons-Henry, born 1795, George, and Herman Baker Hillman.


Herman Baker Hillman was born at Mont- gomery Square, Pennsylvania, 1807. He lived there during his boyhood ; as a young man he moved to and lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was chiefly educated ; later on, when arrived at maturity, he removed to Mauch Chunk where he was general storekeeper for the Lehigh Navigation Company, and was the business as- sociate of Asa Packer. Still later lie owned and operated a line of packet and transportation boats between Mauch Chunk and White Haven, Penn- sylvania; but these interests were sold out, and in 1842, he removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, and with Judge Samuel Holland began during the same year the development of coal lands in the vicinity of that (then) borough. They opened and operated the vein afterwards known as the "Hillman Vein," one of the three largest veins of coal in the region, and in 1847 they shipped to New York and Philadelphia markets from the then Blackman's and Solomon's Gap, or Ross mines, ten thousand tons of an- thracite, which then was the greatest shipment of coal product sent out over the Lehigh and Sus- quenhanna railroad.


Colonel Hillman-(he was best known by that title, having held a colonel's commission of the Lehigh County Militia in 1836)-retired from active business pursuits with a competency in 1874. He was variously identified with Wilkes- Barre interests ; was at one time proprietor of the old Eagle hotel, which stood at the northwest corner of Market and Franklin streets, where now stands the Second National Bank building ; was burgess of Wilkes-Barre 1853-54. and in 1861 represented Wilkes-Barre in the lower house of the state legislature. He died in Wilkes- Barre, March 17, 1882. He married, May 14, 1831, Elizabeth White Pryor, born Lehighton,


Northampton county, Pennsylvania, March 15. 1812, (still living 1905), daughter of John and Keziah (Weeks) Pryor. John Pryor, born Bur- lington, New Jersey, February 14. 1771, died Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1838; mar- ried, Haddonfield. New Jersey, February 18, 1892. Keziah Weeks, born September 19, 1771, died Gloucester, New Jersey, February 22, 1843. She was daughter of Richard Weeks, of Burling- ton. New Jersey, a soldier of the Revolution. Children of Colonel Herman Baker and Elizabeth White (Pryor) Hillman :


I. Henry Baker, born Mauch Chunk, Penn- sylvania, April 12, 1834; died January 28, 1899; married, February 12, 1862, Josephine Anna Hillman, his second cousin, daughter of Joseph H. Hillman. Joseph H. Hillman was born near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1801 ; died at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1854 : buried in the old Moravian cemetery at Nazareth. He married Anna Christina Beck, born Christian Springs, near Nazareth, December 30, 1798, died February 25, 1846. Anna Christina Beck was daughter of Christian Henry Beck, who was born. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 17. 1754; died February 21, 1843 ; buried in the. old Mor- avian cemetery at Nazareth, Pennsylvania ; mar- ried Nazareth, September 26, 1790, Anna Chris- tina Eyerly, born Nazareth, January 27. 1764; died November 2, 1833. The father of Christian Henry Beck was Hein Ferdin Beck, born Wur- temburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, March 27. 1710; died, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 14, 1783 ; buried in the old Moravian cem- etery at Bethlehem. He emigrated to America in 1738 and settled first in Georgia, and removed thence to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1745. He was ordained deacon of the Moravian Church in 1754, and was a missionary among the Indians in northeastern Pennsylvania, particularly in the vi- cinity of Bethlehem. Jacob Eyerly, father of Anna Christina Eyerly, was educated in a German uni- versity, and emigrated from Wurtemburg to London, and thence came to America in the ship "Irene," built (and christened May 29, 1748) by the Moravians for the transportation of their own


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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.


people to America. The colony of which Jacob Eyerly was a member was under the leadership of Gootlob Koenigsdoerfer. The voyagers landed at New York, and Jacob arrived at the Moravian settlement at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1753. He married, August 25, 1755, in the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Christina Schwarz (who was Dutch). He built a mill at Friedenstalil about 1755, a dwelling house at Nazareth in 1774, and was a considerable land owner. He was a candidate for the legisla- ture in 1789, but as he was of a sect whose mem- bers generally were scrupulous of bearing arms he was defeated in the election.


2. Herman P., died many years ago.


3. Mary, married Benjamin Franklin Van- Cleve, and now lives in Cleveland, Ohio.


4. Arthur W., born Mauch Chunk, Penn- sylvania, August 28, 1841 ; died Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1903.


5. George Holland, now living in Wilkes- Barre.


6. Elizabeth, married Lewis Bowers, and lives near Philadelphia.


7. Andrew Yohe, now deceased.


Henry Baker Hillman, eldest child and son of Colonel Herman B. and Elizabeth White (Pryor) Hillman, was educated in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania, and was one of the most earnest friends of education in the borough and later city of Wilkes-Barre. He early became associated with his father in coal operations, and in 1864 he himself developed and brought into successful operation the coal prop- erty near Miner's Mills. This he managed until 1889, when he leased the operation to the Lehigh Valley Coal Company and then retired from that branch of business, having earned a well merited competency. He was councilman of Wilkes- Barre in 1870-71 ; one of the original directors of the Peoples' Bank of Wilkes-Barre, an office he held until his death ; secretary and director of the Vulcan Iron Works, vice-president and director of the Glen Summit Hotel and Land Company ; life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geolog- ical Society; vestryman of St. Stephen's Church


from 1885 until his death ; founder, and president of the board of trustees until his death of the Harry Hillman Academy at Wilkes-Barre. This now famous institution was the free and volun- tary gift of H. Baker Hillman, and was founded by him, its property procured and buildings erected by him, at his own expense, and deedied to its trustees, as a memorial to his eldest son, Harry Grant Hillman, a student at Wilkes-Barre Academy, who died in the prime of young man- hood, February 4, 1883. One who knew Mr. H. Baker Hillman well, and worked for him, both as a driver boy and miner at his colliery, says of. him: "As a driver boy I worked at the old Hill- man colliery, located at Miner's Mills, and upon reaching manhood still worked there as a miner. Such a thing as a strike was unknown. We were the happiest lot of underground workers in the region, and every man breathed of the happy in- fluence diffused by a kind-hearted and benevo- lent employer. It was considered a fortunate circumstance to get work at Hillman's. Not only was a man assured of good wages, but gen- erally he was given opportunities not afforded elsewhere. I knew Mr. Hillman to be possessed of rare qualities of heart and mind. Especially competent was he, too, in the management of his affairs. Broad minded and liberal, he was easy to approach and no man can say they ever re- ceived a harsh word or severe reprimand. His charity was a byword among the needy, and no deserving person ever went away empty-handed," etc.




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