Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

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 3
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 3

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education owe to their times, and how those duties may be most sticcessfully accomplished." In / December, 1884, he delivered an address before the students of Swarthmore College, Pennsyl- vania, on the subject of "Protection, or Defensive Duties." In July, 1885, he, with thirteen other graduates of Williams College, sent to the trus- tees of the college a protest against the manner in which the doctrine of free trade was being taught to the students of Williams by Professor Perry, and also objecting to having the Cobden Club prize awarded at the college. As a result the trustees appointed a committee to consider the advisability of having a course of "protec- tive" lectures delivered. Professor Perry, of Williams College, shared with Professor Sum- mer, of Yale, the distinction of being the most prominent of the educators who were endeavor- ing to instill into the minds of American colleg- ians British free trade doctrines. In the fall of 1885 the students of Williams invited Governor Hoyt to deliver an address to them on the sub- ject of Protection. He delivered the address early in February, 1886, and forcibly presented his ideas with reference to protective tariffs. Early in 1886 Messrs. D. Appleton & Company, of New York, published an octavo book of four hundred and thirty-five pages, written by Gover- nor Hoyt, and entitled "Protection versus Free Trade; the Scientific Validity and Economic/ Operation of Defensive Duties in the United States." Although written in the intervals of business engagements, this book was clearly the result of a thorough and impartial investigation of the science of political economy in its rela- tion to the protective tariff. The book has had a wide circulation among scientific men and stud- ents, and has attracted considerable comment. A second edition was published in 1888. During the presidential campaign of 1888 Governor Hoyt was general secretary and manager of the Ameri- can Protective Tariff League, with headquarters in New York city. Very important services in behalf of the Republican party were rendered by the League, and particularly by Governor Hoyt -- service which aided greatly in electing Presi- dent Harrison.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

For many years Governor Hoyt was a di- rector of the Wyoming National Bank of Wilkes- Barre ; and a member of the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association, and of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, of which he had been one of the organizers in September, 1858. For ten or more of the last years of his life he was a member of the board of trustees of Williams College.

Governor Hoyt was initiated into Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons, December 27, 1854. He was secretary in 1859-65, junior warden in 1860, and senior warden in 1861. In December, 1861, he was elected worshipful mas- ter. On St. John's Day all of the officers of the lodge were installed except Brother Hoyt, who was absent with his regiment in the army. He did not attend any of the meetings of the lodge during the year until December 1, 1862, when he presided as worshipful master at the annual election of officers. He was elected an honorary member of the lodge September 15. 1875. In December, 1882, he became a mem- ber of the committee on correspondence of the grand lodge of Pennsylvania. He was marked in Shekinah R. A. Chapter, No. 182, May 6, 1856, and was exalted to the royal arch degree June 9, 1857. He was scribe in 1859, king in 1860, and high priest in 1861, 1868 and 1869. In 1870, 1871 and 1872 he was district deputy grand high priest of the district composed of Luzerne, Pike, Monroe and Wayne counties, Pennsylvania. September 4, 1872, the officers of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsyl- vania made a visitation to Shekinah Chapter. Many of the Royal Arch Masons, representing various chapters in Companion Hoyt's district, were present on this occasion, and in the course of their work they adopted the following testi- monials: "Resolved, That we, the representa- tives and members of the several Chapters under the supervision of the Hon. H. M. Hoyt, D. D. G. H. P .. take this occasion to express our appre- ciation of the zeal and ability shown by him in giving to us the true work of the H. R. A. Chap- ter of Pennsylvania, as exemplificd by its Grand Officers this evening; and in infusing into the

several Chapters decp interest in the work-the results of which are shown by the assemblage this evening of the largest number of Royal Arch Masons ever convened in Luzerne County." Brother Hoyt received all the degrees of Temp- lar Masonry, and was admitted to membership April 21, 1868, in Packer Commandery. No. 23, at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. He withdrew from the commandery November 21, 1871, in- tending to connect himself with Dieu le Veut Commandery, No. 45, then just constituted at Wilkes-Barre. He was a member of Enoch Lodge of Perfection at Bloomsburg, Pennsyl- vania, having received the first fourteen degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in that lodge July 16, 1868.

Governor Hoyt was married at Kingston, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1855, to Mary E. Loveland, born at Kingston, April 20, 1833, daughter of Elijah Loveland (born February 6, 1788, died February 3, 1846) and Matilda Buck- ingham (born April 26, 1793, died March 24, 1853, his wife. Elijah Loveland, who removed to Kingston from Norwich, Vermont, in 1812, was fifth in descent from Thomas Loveland, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who was made a free- man in 1670. Mrs. Loveland was descended from Rev. Thomas Buckingham, of New Haven and Branford, Connecticut, one of the founders of Yale College. Mrs. Hoyt died at Wilkes- Barre, September 30, 1890, and was survived by her husband, one son and two daughters.

HENRY MARTYN HOYT, eldest of the three children of Governor Hoyt and wife, was born at Wilkes-Barre, December 5, 1856. He was graduated from Yale College a Bachelor of Arts in 1878. He became a student-at-law in the office of the Hon. Wayne McVeagh, Philadelphia, and also attended the regular course of lectures in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, receiving in 1881 the degree of LL. B. Having been admitted to the Philadelphia bar in June, 1881, he removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he practiced law for a time, later ( 1883) going to New York City to accept the position of assistant cashier in the United States National Bank. In March,

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

1886, he became treasurer of the Investment Company of Philadelphia, and held that office until September, 1890, when he became president of the company. He resigned in June, 1894, and returned to the practice of his profession in Phila- delphia. In 1897 he was appointed assistant at- torney general of the United States by Presi- dent Mckinley, and in 1903 was appointed solici- tor general by President Roosevelt, which posi- tion he now (1905) holds. January 31, 1883, he married Anne McMichael, a daughter of Morton McMichael, Jr., and granddaughter of the late Hon. Morton McMichael, who was for many years editor and proprietor of the North Amer- ican, Philadelphia, some time mayor of that city and for a long time closely and eminently identi- fied with its affairs in war and peace. Solicitor General and Mrs. Hoyt have five children, two sons and three daughters.

Governor Hoyt's two other surviving chil- ren are daughters. Miss Maude Buckingham Hoyt and Miss Helen Strong Hoyt. Miss Hoyt. since her father's death, has lived and traveled much abroad and is now residing in Washing- ton, D. C. Miss Helen Hoyt entered and in due course graduated from Bryn Mawr College, after her father died, and is now an instructor in English in that institution.

Governor Hoyt died at his home on South Franklin street, Wilkes-Barre, Thursday, De- cember 1. 1892, after an illness of several months. His funeral took place from the First Presbyter- ian church on the following Saturday, and "was one of the most impressive held in Wilkes-Barre in many a day."

From the year 1861 to 1891 Henry M. Hoyt was a busy man, for within the last three de- cades of his life he found times and opportunities to win sufficient celebrity to make the fame of two or three different men. He was a soldier with a brilliant record, a political leader of much shrewdness, a governor who displayed high ad- ministrative ability, a lawyer learned and skilled and. beyond all these, a student and teacher in the domains of sociology and economics. Under all circumstances he was a leader, not merely

followed and obeyed, but implicitly trusted and sincerely loved. Shrewd in speech, sagacious in counsel, resolute in action, tireless in the pat- ience of his labor, and unfaltering in loyalty to what he thought his duty, he succeeded where most men would have failed. As a fearless de- clarer of his opinions, and the soul of honor, he was hated by the hack politicians, and it was his enemies largely that gave him his hosts of friends. "A Marciful Providence fashioned us holler," says the poet, "O' purpose that we might our princerpuls swaller ;" but Henry M. Hoyt never "swallowed" his. Strong and positive as he was in the announcement of his principles and opin- ions, not one element of bitterness was in them. However he differed from many earnest men who assailed him, in a manner vehement and not always removed from acerbity, he had only kind- liness and charity for his assailants. Selfishness, meanness and ignobility were unknown to him. His generosity was of the sort which instanta- neously forgives everything vanquished. If his opponents found him, as they said, "hard-headed and tough skinned." he was soft-hearted and sensitive enough toward his friends and all the poor and oppressed. Strong as were his political convictions and his partisan loyalty, his friend- ships and personal attachments were stronger still.

"Of his unselfishness, of his kindness, of his fidelity and of his generosity .to others, I would speak. I personally know young men never had a more appreciative or more helpful friend than Henry M. Hoyt. There are scores of them throughout the commonwealth, who, while join- ing with the public in proclaiming him a distin- guished lawyer, a brave soldier, a broad and inde- pendent statesman, a true patriot, and one of the greatest thinkers that this commonwealth has ever produced, will ever remember that he was their generous and helpful friend." Thus spoke Judge Charles E. Rice at the memorial meeting held by the Luzerne bar on the day of Governor Hoyt's funeral, and the writer of these lines, basing his judgment upon his own personal knowledge of and experiences with Governor

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Hoyt for more than a dozen years, can and does William of Ballydavit, to his nephew Alexander sincerely and earnestly affirm Judge Rice's tri- bute. of Aighan, and his brother Andrew : and names his brother Sir Albert Conyngham. William (This sketch borrows largely from "History of Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 61, F. and A. M.," by O. J. Harvey, Esq., by permission of the author.) H. E. H. i Conyngham of Ballydavit, county Donegal, by will, October 8, 1700, entails on his nephew Alex- ander of Aighan all his land in county Donegal, with bequests to others of the family. Alexander Conyngham of Aighan, gentleman, by will, De- CONYNGHAM FAMILY.1 Rt. Rev. Will- iam Conyngham, D. D., born 1512-13, Bishop of Argyll, Scotland, 1539-58, was a younger son of William Conyngham, fourth earl of Glencairn in the peerage of Scotland. This William Cony- ngham was educated for the church, matriculated, University of St. Andrew's, 1532; made por- vost Trinity College, Edinburgh, 1538, and raised to the see of Argyle by James V., February I, I539. cember 27, 1701, entails lands on his eldest son, Richard Conyngham of Dublin, merchant, and on Richard's male heir, in default of which to his second son Andrew, and on his male heir, in default of which to said Richard's right heir. These very lands (Conyngham Reminiscenses, p. 185) thus limited on Richard's right heirs are found in 1721 in possession of Captain David Conyngham of Ballyherrin and Letterkenny, the son of Alexander Conyngham, of Rosguil, Ire- land, whose will (March 21. 1778) conveyed the estate to his son David Hayfield Conyngham, whose eldest son, Redmond Conyngham, of Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, by law would have inher- ited it, but at whose instance his father broke the entail, disposing of the estate for $150,000.

The Very Rev. Alexander Conyngham, M. A., was the grandson of Dr. William Conyng- ham, Bishop of Argyle, in Scotland. In 1616 he was naturalized as an English subject ; was the first Protestant minister of Inver and Kelly- mard, county Donegal, 1611 ; ordained Prebend of Inver 1611, and that of Kellymard same year ; vacated Kellymard 1622, and Inver 1630, both in the Cathedral of Raphoe, on succeeding to the Deanery of Raphoe by patent of April 27; in- stalled June 22, 1630, when Dean Adair was con- secrated Bishop of Killaloe, 1629-30. He was born circa 1580; died September 3, 1660.

Alexander Conyngham, Dean of Raphoe, is credited by Burke with having had twenty-seven sons and daughters, four of the sons reaching manhood : Alexander died during the life of his father; George of Killenlesseragh, Esq., died without male issue ; Sir Albert, who was knighted, and whose grandson became Marquis Conyng- ham, of Mount Charles ; and William, of Bally- davit, Esq.

George Conyngham of Killenlesseragh, county Longford, by will dated May 5, 1684, proved November 25, 1684, devised lands to his brother

Alexander Conyngham of Rosguil, county Donegal, had among his ten children: I. Rev. William, Rector of Letterkenny, died 1782, at ninety-one. 2. Captain David of Ballyherrin and Letterkenny. 3. Adam of Cranford, died 1729, father of Captain John Conyngham, who served with Braddock, when he was defeated by the Indians, 1755. 4. Alexander, who died without issue, leaving his estate to his nephews. 5. An- drew.

Captain David Conyngham, of Ballyherrin and Letterkenny, Ireland, had by his wife Kath- erine O'Hanlon, daughter of Redmond O'Han- lon, one of the Royal Standard Bearers of Ire- land, dispossessed by Cromwell: I. Redmond, of Letterkenny, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2. Isabella, married David Stewart. 3. Mary, married Rev. Thomas Plunkett, and had William Conyngham, lord chancellor of Ireland, Baron Plunkett and Captain David Plunkett, of the American army, 1776-83. 4. Alexander, died in Philadelphia, October 14, 1748. 5. Hannah, married Rev. Oliver MacCausland, rector of Fin-

Written and compiled from Rev. Horace E. Hayden's "Conyngham Reminiscences," and from vari- ous other writings by the same author.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

langen, Ireland. 6. Catherine, married Colonel Sir David Ross, of Ireland. 7. Isabella Han- lon. 8. Martha A. 9. Margaret. 10. Lydia. II. Elizabeth, all of whom died single.

Redmond Conyngham, Esq., born in Letter- kenny, Ireland, 1719, died there January 17, 1784 ; married, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 13, 1849, Martha Ellis, born Philadelphia. February 13, 1731 ; died Derry, Ireland, April 15, 1768; daughter of Robert Ellis,1 Esq., of Philadelphia, and Catherine, his wife. They had five sons and seven daughters. Redmond Conyng- ham came to Philadelphia before the Revolu- tion, and was a member of the mercantile firm of John Maynard Nesbitt & Co. He returned to Ireland in 1766. In 1775 his son, David Hay- field Conyngham, took his place in the firm, which under the name of J. M. Nesbitt & Company and Conyngham & Nesbitt very materially aided the cause of the colonies, doubtless saving Washing- ton's army at Valley Forge by its liberal dona- tion of five thousand pounds of pork at one period or dire need.

David Hayfield Conyngham, born in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. March 21, 1750, died March 3. 1834; married, Whitemarsh, Pennsyl- vania, December 4, 1779, Mary West, born 1758, died August 29, 1820; daughter of William West, a prominent merchant of Philadelphia, and his wife, Mary Hodge, daughter of William Hodge, Jr., and wife Eleanor Wormley (Hodge Family). Their children :

I. William, born September 13, 1780, died September 20, 1780.

2. Redmond, born September 19. 1781 : mar- ried Elizabeth Yates, daughter of Hon. Jasper Yates of Pennsylvania.

3. Mary Martha, born August 18, 1783; died February 16, 1792.

Catherine, born August 29, 1786; died

Towanda, Pennsylvania, May 14, 1839; married October 2, 1806, Ralph Peters, son of Hon. Rich- ard Peters, of Pennsylvania.

5. William, born July 7, 1788; died March II, 1789.

6. Hannah, born January 6, 1790; died 1869. 7. Mary, born February II, 1793 ; died June 27, 1895.

8. David, born February 6, 1795 ; died Sep- tember 1, 1853.

9. Elizabeth Isabella, born May 6, 1797.

IO. John Nesbitt, born December 17, 1798; died February 23, 1871 ; married December 12, 1823, Ruth Ann Butler, daughter of Gen. Lord Butler, born January II, 1801; died July 3. 1879. (See Butler Family.)

HON JOHN NESBITT CONYNGHAM, LL. D., youngest child of David Hayfield and Mary (West) Conyngham, born Philadelphia, December 17, 1798, was educated there, gradu- ating at the University of Pennsylvania. A. B., 1817, A. M., 1820, receiving the honorary degree of LL. D. from his alma mater 1866. He studied law under the personal direction of Hon. Joseph B. Ingersoll, of Philadelphia county. He re- moved to Wilkes-Barre early in 1820, and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar April 3 of that year. After a few years of practice he was appointed (April, 1841) president judge of the Luzerne common pleas, and for thirty years filled the judicial office with a dignity and intelligence which was characteristic of the man throughout the period of his long life. He was first com- missioned judge of the common pleas in 1839 in the Bradford and Susquehanna districts, and by an exchange with Judge Jessup in 1841 he as- sumed the judicial office in Luzerne county ; and upon the occasion of his resignation in 1870, many learned men in the law were invited to be participants at the banquet given in his honor. On that occasion Justice Sharswood said: "To unsuspected purity of purpose he has joined the greatest fidelity and the most eminent legal learn- ing and ability." . Chief Justice Thompson wrote : "To a faithful and able judge, such as yours has been, the tribute of respect you propose on his

I. Robert Ellis, merchant and iron founder, was prominent in early Philadelphia history; member of the common council, October 3, 1722-24; member of Dur- ham Iron Co., Bucks county, 1727; grand juryman, Philadelphia, Oct. 1734; member Christ Church and vestryman, 1719-20, 1722-27, 1735; justice of Bucks county, Dec. 17, 1745, and June 30, 1749.

per ly.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

retirement is graceful and proper; and in this instance will sincerely mark the respect the bar must feel towards one on whom devotion to duty and justice in discharging it, was to all most distinctly apparent." Chief Justice Wood- ward said: "No tribute to a public servant was ever better deserved than that which you pro- pose to tender to Judge Conyngham. He has executed for a long time and with great fidelity one of the most difficult and responsible offices in the government." * "And to official fidelity, Judge Conyngham has added the sanc- tion of a good life," etc. And Chief Justice Ag- new remarked : "I cannot forbear adding iny testimony to that of others, of the high character Judge Conyngham has always borne as a man and as a jurist."

In Wilkes-Barre Judge Conyngham was al- ways deeply interested in the welfare of St. Stephen's Church, of which he was a communi- cant ; he was elected vestryman in 1812 ; was dele- gated to a special convention in Philadelphia in 1844, to consider the expediency of electing an assistant bishop in the diocese ; subsequently he was a delegate to every general convention ex- cept one; and he always was one of the most prominent and influential members of every dio- cesan convention. "As a deputy he was never absent from his post, ever punctual to every ap- pointment, and always ready to sacrifice all per- sonal considerations to his onerous duties." In 1868 he was elected president of the American Church Missionary Society, one of the most im- portant organizations of the Protestant Episcopal church, including in its membership and officialty clergymen and laymen from nearly every diocese.

"In early life he was warmly interested in state and national politics and, though invariably decided and inflexible in his attitude, he was re- spected and admired even by his opponents." In 1840 he represented Luzerne county in the legis- lature. From 1824 to 1838 he was one of the trustees of Wilkes-Barre Academy. At the time of his death he was president of the Wilkes- Barre Tract Society, of the Luzerne County Bible Society, and of the American Church Mis- sionary Society; was vice-president of the Amer-

ican Sunday School Union, and of an institution for deaf mutes in Philadelphia. From May, 1827, to May, 1828, and from May, 1834, to May, 1837, he was burgess of Wilkes-Barre, and in 1849-50 he was president of the borough coun- cil. He was a member of the first board of direc- tors of the Wyoming Bank, organized November, 1829; one of the original members of the Wyom- ing Historical and Geological Society from 1858 to 1871, vice-president 1866-67, president 1869.

Judge Conyngham's death was the result of an accident. On his way to Texas in February, 1871, to bring home his invalid son (Colonel John Butler Conyngham) he fell on the railroad track at Magnolia, Mississippi, and was so crushed under the wheels of a passenger car that he died within two hours after. His last words were : "I know that my Redeemer liveth." The Co- nyngham School on St. Clement's street, Wilkes- Barre, was named in honor of Judge Conyng- ham.

Judge Conyngham married, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1823, Ruth Ann Butler, born January II, 1801, died, July 3, 1879, seventh child of General Lord and Mary ( Pierce) Butler, the eldest son of Colonel Zebulon and Ann (Lord) Butler of Lyme, Connecticut, and Wilkes-Barre. Colonel Butler was the military commander of Wyoming as lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-fourth Connecticut regiment, a soldier from his youth, rising from ensign of the colonial forces to be colonel of the First Connecti- cut regiment of the Continental line, which rank he held when the Revolutionary war ended. He commanded the American forces at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, and was so identified with that section that Miner, the historian, has truly said : "The life of Colonel Zebulon Butler is the history of Wyoming." He was the per- sonal friend of Washington, who reposed great confidence in him. He was the son of John and Hannah (Perkins) Butler, and grandson of Lieutenant William and Mary (Ingalls) Butler, of Ipswich, Mass. His was a distinguished an- cestry, of which his posterity have reason to be proud. John Nesbitt and Ruth Ann (Butler) Conyngham had:

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

I. David Conyngham, born June 17, 1826; died April, 1834.

2. Colonel John Butler Conyngham, U. S. A., born September 29, 1827; died single, May 27, 1871 ; entered Yale College 1842; graduated A. B. 1846. Was a founder of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity of Yale; studied law and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar August 6, 1849 ; began law practice in St. Louis, Missouri, 1852; returned to Wilkes-Barre 1856; in 1861 he enlisted for three months' service in the civil war as second lieutenant, Company C, Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, promoted major Fifty- second Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861, and lieu- tenant-colonel January 9, 1864; taken prisoner July 4, 1864; released and promoted colonel, June 3, 1865: appointed captain Thirty-eighth United States Infantry, and in 1871 was bre- vetted lieutenant-colonel United States army for gallant services in the field. He was one of the founders of the Wyoming Historical and Geolo- gical Society in Wilkes-Barre, February II, 1858, and was an active member until his death. He was also a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., and Shekinah Royal Arch Chapter, No. 182.

3. William Lord Conyngham, born Novem- ber 21, 1829. See below.

4. Thomas Dyer Conyngham, born Decem- ber II, 1831; died New York. November 6, 1904; married June 6, 1850, Harriet Michler. Mr. Conyngham graduated A. B. Yale College, 1850. Was New York superintendent Hazard Wire Rope Works, of Wilkes-Barre. He had, John Nesbitt, died young; Mary, married No- vember, 1892, George Frieze Redmond, of New York; Edith, married January 15, 1896, John Marsh, and had Hampton Conyngham Marsh, born October II, 1901.

5. Mary Conyngham, married June 21, 1864, Charles Parrish of Wilkes-Barre. (See Parrish Family).

6. Anna Maria Conyngham, married Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, DD. LL. D., Bishop Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Pennsylvania, 1862-87; born July 13, 1815; died June II, 1887. (See Batterson's "Sketch Book, American Episcopate"). He

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

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