Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 25

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 25
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 25

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Warren of Golf

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

died at the age of eighty-two years. His wife, age he is still hale and hearty, and seemingly in who was a member of the Methodist Episcopal. the prime of life.

church, died at the age of seventy-three years.

Warren F. Goff, second child of William and Ann Goff, was reared in Bradford county, Penn- sylvania, and there obtained a common school education. In early manhood he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, remaining on the farm with his father until he was twenty-six years old. In 1863, he located in New York City, and for the three succeeding years was engaged as a con- tractor on sewer building. He removed to Ma- hoopany, Wyoming county, Pennsylvania. 1866, and engaged in railroad contracting for the Le- high Valley Railroad, also in the lumber, mercan- tile and milling business,in which he achieved con- siderable success. Mr. Goff removed to Wilkes- Barre, 1869, where he engaged in the lumber business, forming a partnership with Col. Sam- uel A. Sturdevant, and they conducted the estab- lishment under the firm name of Sturdevant & Goff for thirty-three years, or until the death of Colonel Sturdevant, when Mr. Goff disposed of his interest. From the outset the firm of Stur -. devant & Goff met with unqualified success, due in a great measure to the straightforward and honest manner in which all their business deal- ings were conducted. Mr. Goff organized the firm known as the Morgan & Goff Lumber Com- pany in 1900, consisting of Charles and Ben- jamin Morgan and William Goff, son of Warren F. Goff. This continued until 1904, when War- ren F. Goff purchased the interest of the Mor- gan brothers, and with his son William, afore- mentioned,organized the Goff Lumber Company, in which he is interested at the present time. He is one of the oldest dealers in lumber in the city of Wilkes-Barre, having one of the largest yards and planing mills there, and the stock carried is prob- ably the most complete in the Wyoming valley. They handle everything which is used in the building of a house. Warren F. Goff is a director in a number of enterprises outside of Wilkes- Barre, including the Lake Transit Boat Company at Harvey's Lake. £ Although seventy years of

Politically Mr. Goff is a Democrat, and has al- ways taken an active interest in the success of the principles advanced by that organization, but. votes for the man who in his opinion is best: qualified for office. He has served two successive- terms as councilman of the fifteenth ward of Wilkes-Barre. He is a member of the Central: Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilkes-Barre, of which he has been one of the trustees for a long period. He was a member of the building com- mittee of the present church, which was erected at a cost of $100,000, one of the most complete and beautiful churches in the city.

Mr. Goff married, February 7, 1866, Har- riet M. Sturdevant, daughter of L. D. and Ada (Morley) Sturdevant, of Braintrim, Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, where she was born. L. D. Sturdevant (see Sturdevant family). was a farmer and foundryman, and one of the promi- nent and active men of Braintrim, where he died at the age of seventy-five years. His wife, Ada (Morley) Sturdevant, was born in Braintrim, and her father was one of the early pioneers of that. section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Sturdevant

had eight children : Col. Samuel H., now de- ceased ; Warren, a resident of Vermont ; Mrs. James Robinson of Skinner's Eddy, Wyoming county ; Mrs. Warren F. Goff, of Wilkes-Barre; Martha, deceased; Sinton, deceased, his widow resides in Wilkes-Barre; Dunning, a resident of Wilkes-Barre; and Ella, widow of Jerome Swart- wood, now resides in Wilkes-Barre. Mr. and Mrs. Goff had one son, William S., of whom later.

William S. Goff, only child of Warren F. and Harriet M. (Sturdevant) Goff, was born April 9, 1866. He was three years old when his parents removed to Wilkes-Barre, and his education was acquired in the public schools of that city, Harry Hillman Academy, and Wyom- ing Seminary. He then entered the employ of the lumber firm of Sturdevant & Goff, in which his father was a partner and served in the capac-

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ity of clerk, at the same time becoming familiar with all the practical departments of the busi- ness, and eventually was taken into the office to assist in that part of the work. He continued thus engaged until he went to Bear Creek with Albert Lewis, the great lumber merchant of that place. March 1, 1900, the Morgan & Goff Lum- . ber Company was organized, and he became a member of that corporation. In April, 1904, his father purchased the interest of the Morgan Brothers, and the present company known as the Goff Lumber Company was formed, consisting of Warren F. and William S. Goff, father and son. Mr. Goff is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. He married, October 15, 1895, Mary E. Morgan, and had one son, Warren Mor- gan Goff, born February 7, 1903. H. E. H.

JAMES LINCOLN MORRIS, of Pittston, Pennsylvania, a member of the Luzerne county bar, was born in the city where he now resides, May 12, 1860, a son of Michael W. and Bridget E. (Mulligan) Morris.

Michael W. Morris, a son of James and Sarah (Fahey) Morris, was born in Kinvarra, county Galway, Ireland, March 1, 1830. At the age of seventeen years his ambition led him to emigrate to the United States. Locating in Hawley, Penn- sylvania, he found employment in a store, where- in was located the postoffice, and he remained in this service for a period of six years. For two years following he performed clerical duty in the office of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. then relinquishing his place to enter upon busi- ness for himself. After a year he removed to Pittston (in 1856), which has ever since been his place of residence, and where he made for himself a most honorable and successful inde- pendent career. For thirty-seven years he was senior member of the firm of Morris & Walsh, proprietors of the Keystone Roller Mills of Wilkes-Barre, and after the dissolution of this partnership he conducted the business upon his own account. His integrity and ability found recognition in his being called to numerous po- sitions of trust and responsibility. For fifteen years he was a director and treasurer of the

Pittston Street Railway Company; was one of the organizers of the Miners' Savings Bank of Pittston, and served upon its directorate for eighteen years. He was treasurer of the borough of Pittston for five years. Mr. Morris was one of the original incorporators of the Second Na- tional Bank of Wilkes-Barre, of which he is now a director, and of the Union Savings and Trust Company of Pittston, of which he is like- wise a director. He was particularly efficient with reference to educational affairs, serving as a member of the Pittston school board for fif- teen years, and as its treasurer for five years of this time; and it was during this period that all the school buildings in the borough were erected, a work which enlisted his most inter- ested and intelligent effort. In 1861 he was the Republican candidate for treasurer of Luzerne county, and polled a sufficiently large vote to en- title him to the office. As it transpired, the vote cast for him by the Luzerne county soldiers ab- sent in the field was thrown out under the plea of unconstitutionality, and his Democratic oppo- nent, James Walsh, was awarded the certificate of election. An ardent personal admirer of Hor- ace Greeley, Mr. Morris gave an active support to the great journalist in his presidential candi- dacy, and when he was defeated became an ad- herent of the principles of the Democratic party, with which he has ever since been identified. He has always been a staunch and foremost ad- vocate of total abstinence, dating his interest in the cause from the year 1842, in Ireland, when he listened to the fervent addresses of Father Matthew, from whom he took the pledge known by the name of that sainted man. For eighteen years Mr. Morris served as treasurer of the Cath- olic Total Abstinence Union of Pennsylvania. Mr. Morris married, June 11, 1857. Bridget E. Mulligan, daughter of James Mulligan, and of this union were born the following children : I. Alice, who became the wife of Eugene W. Mulligan, of Wilkes-Barre. 2. James Lincoln, whose second name was given him in honor of Abraham Lincoln, whom the father held in deep reverence. 3. Mary. 4. John W. Morris.

James Lincoln Morris, eldest son of Michael

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W. and Bridget E. (Mulligan) Morris, received an excellent education, being in turn a student in the Academy of the Immaculate Heart at Pitts- ton, the public schools of that borough, the Col- lege of St. Hyacinthe, near Montreal, Canada, which he attended for three years, and George- town (D. C.) University, from which he was graduated in the class of 1882. He was for one year a student in the law department of the last named institution, and completed his professional studies in the office of E. P. and J. V. Darling, in Wilkes-Barre, and was admitted to the bar April 22, 1889. In addition to the practice of the profession for which he is amply equipped he has for six years rendered efficient service as one of the court clerks. He is now a mem- ber of the law firm of Woodward, Darling & Woodward, which represents the largest and strongest corporate interests in Luzerne county. He is a forceful writer, and was for years a valued correspondent of the Scranton Republican. the Union Leader of Wilkes-Barre and editor of the Hasleton Plain-Speaker. In politics he is a Democrat, and in 1888 he served as secretary of the Democratic county committee.

June 3, 1902. Mr. Morris married Miss Mary MI. Mulligan, of Wilkes-Barre, born May 30, 1867. a daughter of James and Caroline (Earl) Mulligan, of Reading, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Mulligan was a superintendent of the Reading Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan had the fol- lowing children : Eva, Edward L., Eugene W .. of Wilkes-Barre; Ella K., James, Caroline and Mary, the last named being the wife of James L. Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Morris are the parents of one child, Michael, born March 16, 1904, in Pittston, Pennsylvania. H. E. H.

HON. HENRY W. PALMER. now a mem- ber of the national house of representatives from the Twelfth congressional district of Pennsyl- vania, comes of an honored ancestral lineage,some of whom distinguished themselves in the Revo- lution, while others have occupied positions of honor and trust in civil life. He is ninth in descent from that William Palmer who came from Eng-

land in the ship "Fortune," and arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1623.

Major Gideon Palmer, father of Hon. Henry WV. Palmer, was a son of Gideon and Clarissa (Watkins) Palmer, of Hopkinton, Rhode Island. He went from that state to Pennsylvania when nineteen years old and engaged in agricultural pursuits, also operating a sawmill. He was a man of ability and was called to various impor- tant public positions. He was at one time sheriff of the county of Luzerne, Pennsylvania, repre- sented his district in the lower house of the state legislature, and was a member of the con- stitutional convention of 1872-73. During the Civil war he served as paymaster in the army, with the rank of major. At the same time his brother Nathaniel served as chief of scouts, was taken prisoner and was confined for a year in the notorious Libby Prison, in Richmond, Vir- ginia. Major Gideon Palmer married Elizabeth Burdick, daughter of Billings and Mary ( Cot- rill) Burdick, of Mansfield, Connecticut. She was of the Tift family, of Huguenot ancestry. Her father was a son of Billings and Hannah (Babcock) Burdick, of Hopkinton, Rhode Island ; he was an officer in the war of 1812, and the family have in their possession a sword which he wore at that time. Hannah Babcock was a daughter of General Babcock, of Hopkinton, Rhode Island. Major Gideon and Elizabeth (Burdick) Palmer were the parents of five chil- dren : Henry W., of whom later ; Elizabeth, mar- ried Orlando H. Jadwin, a wholesale druggist of New York City; Louisa. widow of George Smith, a lawyer of Wilkes-Barre, now deceased ; Sarah, wife of Robert H. Sherwood, of New York City, and Winfield Scott Palmer, who re- sides in the family homestead in Glenburn. Lack- awanna county, Pennsylvania. Major Palmer died in Glenburn in 1886, and his wife survived him several years, dying in 1895.

Hon. Henry W. Palmer, son of Gideon and Elizabeth Palmer. was born in Clifford, Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1839. His early education was acquired in the public schools, and he pursued advanced studies in the Wyo-

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ming Seminary and the Fort Edward (New York) Institute. He began preparation for the legal profession under the tutorship of Garrick M. Harding. of Wilkes-Barre, and completed his studies at the State National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he was graduated in 1860, the year in which he attained his majority. In September of the following year he was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and from that time has continuously practiced law in Wilkes-Barre, with the exception of a period of eighteen months during the Civil war, when he served in the army as paymaster's clerk. For four years he was associated with his legal preceptor, Mr. Harding, but for the major part of his long and honorable connection with the legal profession, amounting to considerably more than forty years, he has practiced alone. He rapidly acquired and constantly maintained an unusually large general law business. Much of his time during the past quarter of a century has been devoted to the trial of cases before juries and in the su- preme court. Early in his career he developed abundant strength as well as other superior qual- ifications as a trial lawyer, and a pre-eminent po- sition among his profession in the state. Re- sourceful and alert, with a subservient memory, retentive of precedent and authorities, which he aptly applies at the opportune moment, he has been frequently known to obtain, by ready and accurate application of these invaluable adjuncts, a favorable decision in the face of seemingly in- surmountable obstacles. His standing in his pro- fession found recognition in his appointment by President Roosevelt as a delegate to the Con- gress of Lawyers and Jurists which met in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904. and also as a delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the Pro- motion of Peace at Brussels, in August, 1905, by Hon. Richard Barthold, president of the American group.

In addition to his long and large practice Mr. Palmer holds active connection with va- rious important business interests, being vice- president of the Miners' Savings Bank of Wilkes- Barre; a director in the North and West Branch

Railroad Company, and stock interests in other enterprises, financial and industrial, all of which are important factors in the business of the city and its vicinage. In his political affiliations he is an uncompromising Republican, and he has been actively identified with the party almost from its birth, and his activities in public affairs have ever been based upon principles of patriot- ism and good citizenship. He has frequently served as a delegate in state conventions, and was a inember of the national convention at Cincin- nati in 1876 which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency. From 1879 to 1883 he rendered efficient service as attorney-general of Pennsylvania, under appointment by Gov- ernor Hoyt, and in the latter year was a member of the constitutional convention, in which body he afforded valuable aid to the formulation of many of the most important provisions in the or- ganic law then presented. In 1900 he was elected to the national house of representatives from the Twelfth congressional district of Penn- sylvania, and his course so highly commended him to his constituency that he has been contin- ued in his seat, having been twice re-elected.

Although his professional and private busi- ness affairs and public duties are both numerous and urgent, his broad public spirit is manifested in the active interest which he takes in philan- thropic and other community concerns. Among the institutions which are particularly dear to him are the Westmoreland Club, of which he is president, and the Boys' Industrial Association, which he aided in organizing, and which is to be further mentioned in this narrative.

At Plattsburg, New York, in 1861. )1r. Pal- mer was married to Ellen Mary Webster, a na- tive of that city, daughter of George W. and Lucy Diana (Bradley) Webster. The latter named was a daughter of Baird and Lucy (Dewey) Bradley. Lucy (Dewey) Bradley was a daughter of Thomas and Anna (Allen) Dewey, and a direct descendant of Si- meon Dewey, who was created baronet of Stone Hall in 1629; the name was originally Daine (Huguenots). Anna (Allen) Dewey, mother of Lucy (Dewey) Bradley, was a cousin of Ethan

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Allen, of Ticonderoga fame. Joseph Bradley, father of Baird Bradley, served in the Revolu- tion under Captain Bridsey, of Ripton, Connecti- cut, and was afterwards promoted to captain. Admiral George Dewey is also a conspicuous member of this family. William and Julia Web- ster, maternal grandparents of Ellen Mary (Web- ster) Palmer, went as pioneers from Montreal, Canada, to Vermont. where they passed some years upon a farm, eventually returning to Mon- treal, where they resided during the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters, all of whim are de- ceased. George W. Webster was a native of Williston, Vermont. In his day he was a promi- nent merchant of Plattsburg. New York, and largely interested in shipping on Lake Champlain. He was the father of six children, three of whom are living : Mrs. James L. Reynolds, of Auburn, New York; Mrs. Henry W. Palmer, see for- ward, and Mrs. Sandford Potter, of Whitehall, New York. Mrs. Palmer's father died in Platts- burg, New York, at the age of fifty-five years, and her mother, who lived to the age of seventy- six years, died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Palmer, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Palmer has long been prominently iden- tified with religious, educational, charitable and philanthropic work, both in an individual ca- pacity and also in association with her husband. She has effectively championed many worthy causes in private gatherings and upon the public platform, and has given liberally of her time and means in forwarding movements conducive of benefit to the community at large. The Boys' Industrial Association and its Industrial School for Boys, both of which were established in large degree through her instrumentality, will perpet- ually remain as a monument to her solicitude for the future welfare of boys whose circumstances make it necessary for them to begin the battle for existence at an early age, and in this widely benevolent and unique undertaking she received the earnest co-operation of her husband. who not only cordially approved her plans but ren- it his personal service, acting as president. ad- vising in its management and rendering gener-

ous financial assistance. The school building erected at a cost of five thousand dollars on land provided by the city, is fully equipped for man- ual training and offers excellent opportunities for acquiring the elementary principles of various useful occupations, including carpentering, shoe- making, chair-seating, drawing, modeling, etc. Exhibitions are given at stated intervals, show- ing the marked proficiency which many of the pupils attain in the different trades, aud not a few of them who are now filling positions of use- fulness in the community may attribute their success in life to the kindly interest and foster- ing aid extended in their behalf by Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, and the work of the latter especially, along these lines, can not be too highly esti- inated. Mrs. Palmer has been for many years president of the local Women's Christian Tem- perance Union, has been vice-president of its county organization since 1891 and is untiring in her efforts in behalf of temperance, morality and religious work. In the Sunday school of St. Stephen's (Protestant Episcopal) Church, of which she and her husband are both members. Mrs. Palmer is a leading teacher, having a class numbering one hundred, its members varying in age from fifteen to twenty years.

The children of Hon. and Mrs. Henry W. Palmer are as follows :

I. Louise Mary, who married Prof. George Edgar Vincent, a son of Bishop Vincent, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and now occupying the chair of sociology in the Chicago University. They have three children : Isabel, John and Eliz- abeth.

2. Bradley W. Palmer. a graduate of Har- vard University, and also of its law school, and is a member of the law firm of Story, Thorndike & Palmer, Boston, Massachusetts.

3. Ella Constance, who resides at home. She completed her musical studies abroad at the London (England) Conservatory of Music.

4. Madeline, who married Prof. Charles M. Bakewell, Ph. B., formerly of the University of . California. and now senior professor of philos- ophy at Yale University.

5. Henry Webster Palmer, who graduat :d

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

from the academic and law departments of Har- vard University. He is practicing law in Boston.

Of the daughters, Louise Mary and Madeline are graduates of Bryn Mawr College, and Ella Constance of Wellesley College. H. E. H.

BEAUMONT FAMILY. William Bement (or Beaman) of Saybrook, who married Lydia Danforth, December 9, 1643, was the first of the name in the colony of Connecticut and was at Saybrook, 1635. was made freeman there, 1652. He died February 4, 1698. She died August 16, I686.

Lydia Danforth was daughter of Nicholas Danforth, "the progenitor of a family in New England whose successive representatives have been more than ordinarily distinguished in their day and generation, and whose name, honorable alike in church and state," ₭

* "has been worthily perpetuated even to our own day." Nicholas Danforth was born in the county of Suffolk, England, "A Gentle- man of such Estate and Repute in the World," says Cotton Mather, "that it cost him a consid- erable sum to escape the knighthood which King Charles II imposed upon all, and at so much per annum; and of such Figure and Esteem in the Church that he procured that Famous Lecture at Framlingham in Suffolk, where he had a fine Manour." His wife died 1629, and in 1634 he came to New England, was admitted freeman of the Massachusetts colony with some twenty others of Cambridge, March 3, 1635-6; was dep- uty to the general court, 1636; died April, 1638, leaving five children : Elizabeth, who by her mar- riage with Andrew Belcher, became grandmother of Governor Jonathan Belcher; Thomas, born 1622; Samuel, born 1626, graduated, Harvard College, 1643 : Jonathan, born February 29, 1628 ; Ann, wife of Matthew Bridge; Lydia, wife of William Beamen.

William Bement and his wife Lydia Danforth had issue: Lydia, born March 9, 1644; Mary, born November 12, 1645 or 47; Elizabeth, born March 2. 1649; Deborah, born November 29, 165 -; Abigail, born February 20, 1654, died September 29, 1683; Samuel, born February,

1656, of whom later; Rebecca, born September 7, 1659.

Samuel Bement, sixth child of William and Lydia (Danforth) Bement, born February, 1656, had a son, Samuel Bement, who in 1725 had a son William Bement, who died August 22, 1812. He married Sarah Everett, of Windham (or Lebanon), Connecticut, and settled in Lebanon.

Isaiah Beaumont, son of William and Sarah (Everett) Bement, was a Revolutionary sol- dier, having enlisted December 1, 1775, in Col. John Durkee's regiment ; was at the siege of Bos- ton, served with the army in New York, and dur- ing its retreat across Jersey to Pennsylvania. His term of service expired just before the battle of Trenton, but he was among the few who volun- teered for further service, and was in that fight, and a short time afterward in the battle of Prince- ton, where he was severely wounded. Later dur- ing the Revolutionary war he was again in the service, on temporary duty to repel an invasion in Connecticut. He became a pensioner and in 179I removed to Wyalusing Creek. Isaiah Beaut- mont had four brothers, all of whom are said to have served in the Revolutionary arm. One, William Beaumont, was a lieutenant in the Fifth Regular Connecticut Continental Infantry De- cember, 1777, to January 1, 1783 ; he was a mem- ber of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati. The wife of Isaiah Beaumont was Fear Alden. Capt. Jonathan Alden, fourth son of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, had four children, and Andrew, his eldest child, married Lydia Stanforth, February 4, 1714, and they had eight children. They resided in Lebanon, Connecticut, and there Fear Alden, his daughter, married Isaiah Beaumont.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 25

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